Methinks some of you are getting caught up in time sheets being some
sort of prime tax support documentation.  That may be the case in a few
organizations, but not the vast majority...; which use payroll data,
etc. for that.  Other than that this thread discussion has taken on a
more tax-supporting documentation in general theme, instead of just time
sheet as source documents.

Having said all this, I will repeat the method and model for deciding
upon retention policy:

administrative/operational (actual reference need)
fiscal, if any
legal, if any
regulatory, if any
historic, if any

The retention of any records series will be the longest of the above
researched and evaluated retention factors. 

Larry, you have OBVIOUSLY lived in California way TOO LONG and inhaled
too many BALES of Missouri rope; you are becoming delusional and even
defensive about it.  No doubt Freud would have had a field day examining
you...; or vice-versa.

As a general favor to the RIM profession, and in support of ARMA and
ICRM respective mission statements and ethical values, I may have to
haul off and come over the mountains and heal you.  There are some
burning bushes up there right now upon which to draw strength and
inspiration.  I'll bring my own serpents (western diamondbacks).  No
charge since we have known each other so long. 


Best regards, Steve
Steven D. Whitaker, CRM
Records Systems Manager; City of Reno

>>> [log in to unmask] 08/15 10:04 AM >>>
Being someone who actually has lived through and survived an IRS audit
of my
business in the late 1990s, I can tell you that they DO EXPECT you to
be
able to produce records of all transactions down to a level of minutiae
that
you could NEVER imagine for not only the specific year you are being
audited
for, but for the 3 years leading up to it.  I was being audited for Tax
Year
1997, and was required to produce all supporting documentation for
that
year, as well as 1996, 1995 and 1994.

And the comment made by a dear friend of mine regarding credit card
receipts
won't help in the event of an audit.  I had statements ONLY for one of
the
years, seeing as each monthly bill detailed WHO the expenditure was
with and
when it happened, but the IRS demanded that I produce actual
register/transaction level receipts for some purchases, because they
were
unable to ascertain if I had purchased a mix of business and personal
items
at locations such as Costco, Office Depot, etc.  And their bottom line
was
if the transaction level receipts couldn't be produced, then the
expenses
would be disallowed.  Same went for travel costs; they wanted to see
where
it stated how many guests were in the room, or how many airline tickets
were
purchased.

The one saving grace was I wasn't Incorporated.  As an individual, you
can
be audited for CY+6, and up to 10 if they determine there are possible
improprieties in their findings.  But as a Corporation, the limit for
audits
extends to 25 years... and what's classic about that is NARA (which is
where
ALL TAX RETURNS are held for the IRS) discards returns on a 4 year
cycle...
so if you're audited (and selection is done from a database) and the
IRS
fails to contact NARA in time to pull your returns to be held for
potential
audit, **YOU** are required to produce the copy of the return to
support
yourself.

So, put THAT in your Deuteronomy and smoke it...

Larry

-- 
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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