BIR Document Retention Costs

 

Retaining 10,000 pages for 10 years will now cost you USD 5,800

Retaining records will cost a company Php 294,000 when stored in a central business district (CBD) like Makati, Ortigas, and BGC. 

We have updated our cost calculation for retaining BIR and financial records.  The amounts are staggering.

It is worth your time to check out your costs.  It's easy! Calculate space, power, and dues associated with your storage space.

Cost Saving Options

Off-Site Storage

Instead of storing your documents in your office, you may store it instead in a cheaper offsite location but make sure you protect them from water, insects, rodents, and other elements. Another cost-effective option is using the services of a Records Management company.

Properly run Records Management companies usually have dry fire suppression, and regular fumigation activities and some are even ISO 27001: Information Security rated.

Digitize and Avoid Copies

Minimize retention costs and preserve your documents by digitizing your important documents so you can dispose of the hard copies after 5 years. By digitizing your documents, automating the business processes will be easier which also eliminates the need for photocopying.

Photocopying and printing costs are those types of expenses that get buried in other budget line items, but they actually cost a lot.

(Related read: BIR ruling on digitized records.)

Track Retention Periods

Manage retention times based on the retention period guidelines and get rid of expired documents. This can be done using an Electronic Document Management System.  It provides remote retrieval of documents, version control, a document expiry system, and many other features that are essential to businesses.