How Long Should a Business Keep Credit Card Receipts
Author: Peter Carville
One thing you may have wondered about if your small business has recently been set up to accept credit cards is how long you should keep the receipts. There is some confusion about this, with some sources saying they need to be kept for several years.
The truth is, your small business should keep legible copies of sales receipts for 18 months in order to have them on-hand for any disputes or chargebacks. Chargebacks are cases where customers believe they have not received what they were promised or tried to return an item and were unable to within a store's return policy. In these cases, credit card companies will cancel the charge and attempt to collect it from you, the merchant.
You should keep business credit card receipts in a locked file cabinet or a safe. Then, after 18 months is over, you should shred the receipts to protect the personal information of the cardholders.
While you certainly can shred credit card receipts the day they're done, if a customer requests a chargeback, you won't have a legal leg to stand on without it. So, keeping them for 18 months is not a law, but rather a recommendation.
On the other hand, you need to destroy credit card information regularly. If you store bags of receipts in an office or cupboard, but not locked up, and a thief walks in and takes them, many people's credit card information could be compromised, and that will most definitely be harmful to your visit. In some businesses, years worth of credit card receipts can sit for years in storerooms where an employee could take them and nobody would notice them missing for a very long time, if ever.
The information on these receipts can be sold easily to those who would use them fraudulently. If the information is breached due to your negligence, you could be fined for it.
Because you will most likely want to store receipts for 18 months to have available in the event of a chargeback, when you set your small business up to accept credit card payments, you should invest in a locking file cabinet or safe that will be large enough to hold 18 months worth of receipts. Of course, the size of the safe or file cabinet will depend on your business volume and how many transactions are paid for with credit cards.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/how-long-should-a-business-keep-credit-card-receipts-1342892.html
About the Author
Peter Carville is a freelance article writer who writes for Financial Facts about the current financial news and the credit crunch.
How come “business account” credit cards don’t help your credit?
I have a business credit card with a high credit limit, but this account does not show up on credit reports from all three crediting agencies. I asked the card issuer why this is, and they tell me that it will only show up if i have negative history (late payments, bankruptcy) but it does not show my on time payments or any sign i even have this available credit line in my name. I am trying to build good credit history, but this doesn’t even add into the evaluation of it, and it is the best thing i have going right now. Any one know why this is?
By filing chapter 7 personal bankruptcy including business credit card debt?
By filing personal bankruptcy (chapter 7) including business credit card debts with personal guarentees; do I also have to file for business chapter 11 bankruptcy because of these same credit cards or will the pesonal filing take care of them without involving my business?
Is there any way for a person with a home based business to keep the business credit cards when claiming bankr?
If a person claims bankruptcy, is there any way to hang onto the credit needed for their home business. Could this be accomplished by incorporating?
Bankruptcy and Business credit card?
I am going through bankruptcy. I have a small business credit card that has a balance, but I could not find it on any of my credit reports. I do not have a business!
Does this credit card have to be included on my bankruptcy?
Can I file bankruptcy on business credit cards?
I own a small business and have several credit cards which were opened in the business name as well as my name. Can i file bankrupt on these cards with the business still operating. The business is in my hubby’s name, I am just an employee which I do not get a paycheck. I have my daughter working for me and pay her under the table. Will this affect my hubby, he is not listed as co-signer or authorized user of the cards.
Ur best bet is to Go seek legal advice. That’s not stuff you want to take someones word at unless they have details and know the law well……. Consults are typically free
I wish you the best
Kourtnie D.
Prosperity Financial
Yes it does, put all the details you can find and put an estimate of the balance or ‘not known’ if you dont know it.
The same reason an authorized user on a card can be negatively affected if the card holder messes up.
It doesn’t make sense but that’s how they do it.
If the company runs into problems they have to have someone to turn to and that’s you. Being able to burn you if things go bad is their only leverage.
it is all about liability, a lot of times incorporation would be an answer, A coporation is a legal entity and therefore typically a seperate one as well. That is one reason you see Trump Corportation, not Donald Trump Company. Please, I am not an lawyer, see one!
Don’t think of how to file, think of and see yourself successful! See your world in a positive manner!