Moving and Storage
File Storage and a Local Move
It is no secret that businesses have paperwork. Business to business service industries have files and invoices. Law firms have a plethora of documents per case file. Even retail establishments have documents relating to inventory, shipments, and bookkeeping records. During a local commercial move, many businesses are looking to purge unnecessary documents from their physical location. Even when moving into a bigger office space, these documents will utilize much more room than these business owners want to waste. Now is the perfect time to determine what files to keep on site, what files to store, and what data to destroy.
The Law
Without getting too technical, most legal experts and accountants will advise that you maintain any records for seven years. Many businesses will have, at most, seven years to bring suit against a company for work completed or malpractice. Besides, the IRS requires that you maintain seven years of tax records to comply with the statute of limitations relating to tax audits. Therefore, any files older than seven years can, and should be purged.
On-Site or Off-Site
Since the law says you can dispose of record over seven years old, the next step is to decide what records should remain on-site and what can go into storage. The very first thing to consider is that any document that is current or has been processed within the past year should stay on-site. Typically, these documents will be needed to either complete work or give to your accountant for tax purposes. However, what about other materials? The answer is a decision that you need to make within the confines of your business model. There are a few questions to ask yourself before deciding to transfer the documents:
1. Will we need this information or report within the next six months to one year?
2. Is this related to an open file or order?
3. Will this document or data help in the completion of a current document, job, or file?
4. Is this the only copy of this document or file available?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you would benefit from storing the document or file on-site. It will be less cost-effective to keep the paper off-site and run to the storage facility every time you need to reference the file.
However, if the answer is “no” to these questions, or you have the documents stored electronically on your server or an external hard drive, these documents and files can be stored off-site. The benefit to keeping these documents and records in storage will help free up space in your office as well as allow you to downsize if necessary, saving you money in the long-run. Storage spaces are relatively inexpensive and temperature controlled, allowing your documents to stay safe and secured, without risk of wilting or getting lost in the shuffle of business.
If you are looking to hire movers, South Jersey’s premier movers are Sinclair Moving and storage. Their experts can help you move your company with ease and provide you with storage facilities for your documents and files that you need to keep but can keep off-site. Contact Sinclair Moving and Storage today at (856) 753-7400 to learn more about commercial moving and storage options.
