Employers often ask me what they should do with all the retirement plan paper they have accumulated over the years. Both the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor have issued detailed guidelines regarding the retention of electronic records and storage requirements.
In Revenue Procedure 98-25, the IRS stated that records needed to demonstrate compliance with tax laws must be available for IRS review at all times, and must be retained as long as they are “material” for administering the Internal Revenue Code. Taxpayers (in this case, plan sponsors) must ensure the ability to retrieve, manipulate, print and produce output of electronic media.
