CISR18180 | The Scheme: miscellaneous: retention of CIS paper records

From HM Revenue & Customs · Construction Industry Scheme Reform Manual

| CISR18600 | Action guide contents | |—————————————————————————————————–|———————–|

Background

HMRC must comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act (DPA). In particular, the Department must ensure that personal data

shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or purposes
shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed
shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept longer than is necessary for that purpose or purposes.

Within each file, there will be one or more of the following

Returns
Accounts pad
Next Accounts Pad
Assessment sub-folder
ADP sub-folder
CIS papers
Investigation/enquiry sub folder
Complaint papers
CG/BES subfolders.

Retention periods for CIS papers

Forms that are applications, should be kept permanently in the CIS folder(CIS31/CIS32/CIS91). These forms should be kept permanently, even if superseded, to provide compliance with information in case of later problems
CIS16 should be kept permanently
CIS40, CIS41 - to be kept for the enquiry window.

(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

Any doubts?

If in spite of the above you find yourself still in doubt as to which documents are to be retained or destroyed as confidential waste, you should refer to the Record Retention Site available on the HMRC Intranet.