How many years to keep contracts with suppliers and counterparties?

Why is this necessary?

Why, where and how long to store contracts with clients are issues of great importance for the activities of the organization. Contracts and agreements define the obligations of the parties - the company itself and its partner. Current storage of agreements (before their execution, termination, or if they expire in the current year) is organized to track the timely fulfillment of obligations, filing claims, that is, ensuring normal business activities.

The head of the organization decides who should keep contracts during their execution. This is usually the responsibility of the legal department or accounting department or secretary. Monitoring the fulfillment of obligations is assigned to specific persons: a lawyer, a warehouse manager, etc. For this purpose, a copy of the document is created.

Storage after transfer to the archive is important when calculating taxes and fees (Article 23 and Article 283 of the Tax Code oblige a legal entity to store documents on income and losses for at least 4 and 10 years, respectively), when carrying out other supervisory measures.

How to store documents until 2022

The customer's procurement documentation is stored in both electronic and paper forms. The rules for how auction documentation and other registers should be stored are not defined in 44-FZ. The law on the contract system specifies deadlines only for paper procedures. In particular:

• competition documentation with amendments and clarifications, applications for participation in the competition, all protocols and audio recordings of opening envelopes are stored for at least 3 years (Part 15 of Article 53 of 44-FZ, letter of the Ministry of Economic Development No. D28i-1805 dated April 24, 2017);
• in Art. 90 determines how long applications under 44-FZ are stored - documentation with changes and clarifications about the closed auction, applications for participation, all protocols are stored for at least 3 years (Part 13 of Article 90 44-FZ, letter of the Ministry of Economic Development No. D28i-1805 dated April 24, 2017).

Now (in 2021) the storage period for procurement documentation under 44-FZ is three years. After this period, the organization either continues to retain the registers or destroys them. But from 01/01/2022, documentation becomes optional for customers (360-FZ dated 07/02/2021). Now, before a purchase, a notice, draft contract, technical specifications and other papers are drawn up, but not documentation.

The procedure and terms of preservation of documentary materials are prescribed in the following regulations:

• Federal Law of October 22, 2004 No. 125-FZ “On Archival Affairs in the Russian Federation”;
• Order of Rosarkhiv No. 236 dated December 20, 2019.

Paragraphs 217-233 of Rosarkhiv Order No. 236 dated December 20, 2019 indicate the storage period for schedules under 44-FZ and other procurement papers - at least 3 years. The object and order quantity do not affect the frequency of register content.

ConsultantPlus experts discussed how to store documents under 223-FZ. Use these instructions for free.

To read, you will need access to the system: .

How to determine the deadline

To decide what period of storage of contracts in an organization to set for a specific type of document, it is recommended to refer to the legislative acts:

• Tax Code;
• Federal Law “On Archival Affairs”;
• Federal Law “On Accounting”.

The main regulatory document on deadlines is the List of types of organization documentation (hereinafter referred to as the List), approved by order of the Federal Archive No. 236 dated December 20, 2019, applicable from February 18, 2020. Search is carried out by:

• the specific name of the contract, agreement (but it is so difficult to find accurate information on how long contracts for the provision of services, purchase and sale, and supplies are stored);
• generalized name of the type of contracts (for example, contracts not separately included in the main List).

STORAGE TERMS OF CONTRACTS

The List 2022 contains 62 types of contracts with different retention periods. We have organized them by shelf life and placed them in six tables. Table 1 contains contracts with a shelf life of “Until liquidation of the organization”, Table 2 contains contracts with a shelf life of “Permanently”, Table 3 contains contracts with employees of the organization and individuals with a shelf life of “50/75 years”, Table 4 contains – contracts with storage periods of “10 years”, “15 years”, in Table 5 – contracts with a storage period of “5 years”, in Table 6 – contracts with a storage period of “3 years”.

[1] Approved By Order of Rosarkhiv dated December 20, 2019 No. 236 (hereinafter referred to as the 2019 List). [2] See clause 4.4 of the Instructions for the use of the List of standard management archival documents generated in the course of the activities of state bodies, local governments and organizations, indicating their storage periods (hereinafter referred to as the Instructions for the use of the List 2019; approved by Order of the Federal Archive of Russia dated 20.12 .2019 No. 237).

[3] See paragraph 4.5 of the Instructions for use of the 2022 List.

Terms depending on the type of contract

To find out how many years contracts with suppliers, tenants, and buyers are kept, it is recommended to refer to clause 1.3.1 of the order of the Federal Archive.

The main positions are shown in the table:

HOW TO CALCULATE THE STORAGE DURATION OF A CONTRACT?

The “measured” contract retention period (i.e. three years, five years, etc.) begins after the obligations under it are fulfilled. There are many comments on this matter in the 2022 List, we will place them in the tables below (namely in the “Notes” columns).

In order to correctly calculate the storage period of a contract, it is necessary to know not only the date of its conclusion, but also the date of completion of its execution. A striking example is alimony agreements (although they are formed in the practice of notarial, and not general office work). An agreement to pay child support can be concluded when the child is not even one year old, and the document will be valid until he turns 18 years old. And only after this event should the five-year storage period of the agreement be counted. You cannot destroy the document earlier.

The concluded additional agreement extends the “lifetime” of the agreement. Thus, if an additional agreement appears in an agreement concluded in 2022, its storage period must be counted after the fulfillment of additional obligations.

Let us recall the meaning of storage periods expressed verbally:

1. Bodies of state power, local self-government, municipal and non-governmental organizations, which are sources of acquisition of the state or municipal archive, submit documents with a shelf life of “Permanently” to the archive to which they are subordinate, within the time limits established in the agreement with this archive. Non-governmental organizations that are not sources of archive collection store documents with a “Permanent” storage period of at least 10 years[2].

2. Upon liquidation of an organization, contracts with a shelf life of “Until liquidation of the organization” are subject to examination of value. They can be included in the Archival Fund of the Russian Federation, regardless of whether the organization is the source of acquisition of the state (municipal) archive or not[3].

How long to archive?

From the systematic interpretation of the law it follows that the storage of contracts in an organization is divided into two types:

• current (during execution);
• in the archive.

This classification follows from the general principles of office work. The order of Rosarkhiv does not indicate where contracts should be stored in the organization; in practice, they are based on the specific situation. While the document is in use, it is stored in a specific department, accounting department, and then in the archive. The legally established preservation period means the period after depositing in the archive. Information about deadlines is taken from the List. If the contract is mixed, the preservation period for each species should be determined and the maximum should be applied.

What are the terms depending on the types of agreements

Rosarkhiv Order No. 236 dated December 20, 2019 contains several dozen names of agreements. The main ones are shown in the table of contract retention periods in the organization in 2022:

And here is a table of the storage periods for loan agreements in an organization in 2021.

And additionally a table on the safety of supply contracts in organizations in 2022.

IMPORTANT!

If the document is not clearly indicated in the order of the Federal Archive No. 236 dated December 20, 2019, keep it for 5 years with the right to leave it for permanent storage. But only after the expiration or termination of obligations under it.

What storage periods are established for budgetary organizations?

Reports on the implementation of grant and subsidy agreements must be kept for 5 years.
According to the previous list, reports on the implementation of grants should have been kept permanently. The financial and economic activity plan must be kept for as long as the budget estimate: 5 years at the place of approval and permanently at the place of development. According to the previous list, budget estimates at the place of approval and development had to be stored permanently. In addition, there were no separate provisions for the FHD plan. It was subject to the general requirements for the organization's annual plans - permanent storage.

Separate standards have appeared for reports on the implementation of FCD plans: annual reports must be kept permanently, quarterly reports - for 5 years, monthly reports - for 1 year.

Documents on the transfer of property to operational management or economic management must be kept “until the liquidation of the organization.” The previous list determined only the storage periods for correspondence about the transfer of property. It had to be stored for 10 years, unless the expert commission extended this period.

Have the retention periods for contracts and agreements changed?

Yes, for example, a contract of gift (donation) of property must be kept “until the liquidation of the organization.”
Permanent storage was previously installed. The leasing agreement should be kept for 5 years after the expiration of the agreement or the purchase of the property. If there is a disagreement, the agreement must be kept until a decision is made on the case. As before, the list had to be kept constantly. Similar changes affected all leasing documents.

Real estate mortgage documents are kept for 10 years instead of permanent storage. As with leasing, the period is counted from the moment the contract expires or the property is purchased. In case of a dispute, documents are kept until a decision is made on the case.

The agency agreement should be kept for 15 or 10 years, depending on the type of property, instead of five years.

A credit or loan agreement with the condition of pledging property must be kept for 10 years. The requirement also applies to documents confirming the provision of funds and the fulfillment of obligations by the debtor. This is an exception to the general rule of 5-year retention of loan agreements.