Document retention: how long to keep each business document

Keeping everything forever feels safe, but it is expensive, takes up space and increases exposure to privacy risks. Discarding too early, on the other hand, can leave a company without evidence in an inspection or lawsuit. The balance lies in a document retention schedule.

What a retention schedule is

A retention schedule defines, for each document type, how long it must be kept (in the active and inactive phases) and its final disposition: disposal or permanent retention. It is built from legal requirements, limitation periods and business needs.

Common reference periods in Brazil

Periods vary according to the nature of the document, the industry and the applicable law. Below are some references frequently used by Brazilian companies — which should be validated by your legal and accounting advisors:

• Tax and accounting documents (invoices, books, tax receipts): at least 5 years, in line with the statute of limitations in the National Tax Code — longer in specific situations.
• Labor documents: labor claims may be filed for up to 5 years during employment, limited to 2 years after termination. Employee records and documents related to social security are usually kept much longer, and many companies keep some of them permanently.
• FGTS (severance fund): since the Supreme Court ruling in ARE 709.212, the limitation period for collecting deposits became five years, with transition rules for earlier periods.
• Civil and commercial contracts: consider the limitation period applicable to the claim — the Civil Code sets a general 10-year period and shorter specific periods, such as 3 or 5 years, for certain claims — counted from the end of the obligations.
• Corporate records: articles of association, amendments and minutes are usually kept permanently.

Does digitization solve it?

Largely, yes. Law 12.682/2012 and Decree 10.278/2020 set the requirements for digitized documents to have the same legal effects as the original, involving integrity, reliability, minimum metadata and, where applicable, an ICP-Brasil digital certificate signature. The Economic Freedom Law (Law 13.874/2019) also reinforced the right to archive documents digitally, subject to these requirements.

There are exceptions — such as documents of historical value — and each document type should be assessed before any paper is discarded.

How to build your schedule

1. Inventory the document types in each department.
2. Research the legal, regulatory and contractual requirements for each.
3. Define the period for each phase and the final disposition.
4. Validate with legal, accounting, compliance and business areas.
5. Automate: configure your document management system to apply the periods and alert on expirations.
6. Document disposal, recording what was destroyed, when and by whom.

Retention and the LGPD go hand in hand

The LGPD requires personal data to be deleted at the end of processing, except where the law provides otherwise. A well-applied retention schedule is therefore also a privacy tool: it justifies why a document still exists — and ensures it ceases to exist when there is no longer a reason to keep it.

The best archive is not the one that keeps everything, but the one that finds any document in seconds and discards what has served its purpose.

The periods mentioned are general references and may vary case by case. Always consult your legal and accounting advisors.