Records Retention in Russia: Accounting and HR Documents for Foreign Companies

How long must a foreign-owned company keep accounting, tax and employee records in Russia?

A foreign-owned company must apply Russian retention periods to the records of its Russian subsidiary, branch or representative office. Five years is a common baseline, but insurance-contribution, payroll, employment and annual reporting documents follow different periods. The term must be determined for each document rather than an entire system.

Where Russian rules differ from group policy

A parent company may apply a global seven- or ten-year policy, but the Russian operation still needs a local register. Group rules may extend a Russian period; they cannot shorten it. Headquarters copies do not remove the Russian entity’s responsibility for originals and readable electronic files.

The Russian finance and HR teams should identify the record retention requirements, while headquarters approves any longer group term. Provider contracts should cover access, return and handover on termination.

Retention periods affecting the Russian operation

The table provides a baseline. A longer period applies where the same record supports another continuing obligation.

"Permanent" does not require every private company to send annual statements immediately to a state archive. Its archival status and liquidation procedure determine subsequent transfer, but these records should not enter routine five-year destruction.

A schedule that supports management decisions

A record retention schedule for businesses with foreign ownership should answer four questions:

What is the record? Use its Russian legal category, not only the name in the parent company’s ERP.
When does the period start? The trigger may be a reporting year-end, replacement, termination or settlement.
Who controls it? Identify the local owner, storage system and any provider with custody.
What happens at review? State whether the file may be destroyed, retained or referred for legal and tax review.

The records retention schedule should record the legal basis, period, trigger and approved action. Headquarters can then compare Russian obligations with the group policy without combining unlike documents.

Exceptions that change the expected disposal date

Accounting evidence

Accounting records retention cannot be calculated by adding five years to the document date. Financial records retention must preserve the chain from the transaction through the register to the statutory statements, including evidence for open balances and earlier-period corrections.
Tax evidence

Tax records retention may exceed the general term. Evidence supporting a carried-forward loss remains available while it reduces the tax base. Fixed-asset cost and depreciation documents are retained while they affect calculations and for the applicable period after disposal.
HR and payroll evidence

Employee records retention follows another logic because some documents prove employment and earnings decades later. Payroll retention requirements are particularly sensitive: payment statements are normally kept for six years, but for 50 or 75 years when employee personal accounts are absent.

Financial document retention should be extended for a documented reason, not through a general instruction to keep everything "just in case."

System migrations and provider changes

Before closing an ERP, changing a payroll platform or terminating a provider, the Russian operation should confirm that:

historical documents can be reproduced and their metadata remains available;
electronic signatures can still be verified;
Russian accounting documents and their data remain stored in Russia;
the archive inventory matches the records returned by the provider;
missing periods, unreadable files and unreturned originals have responsible persons and correction dates.

Access through an overseas group system does not replace the Russian archive. These checks give the foreign CFO evidence that the records exist beyond the services agreement.

Sale, reorganisation or closure of the Russian business

Sale or reorganisation

The buyer or successor should receive an inventory showing where accounting, tax and personnel files are held and whether archive gaps could affect an audit or employee claim.

Liquidation or branch closure

Management should separate temporary files from annual statements and long-term personnel records, identify the required recipient and arrange their transfer under the applicable archival procedure.

Destruction begins only after all retention periods and restrictions expire and the authorised commission approves the relevant act.

How we support records retention in Russia

We help foreign-owned companies map Russian accounting, tax, payroll and HR records and align local periods with group policies.

We can prepare the register, assign responsibilities, review archive gaps and organise handovers when systems, providers or corporate structures change. This gives local management and headquarters a practical basis for retention and disposal decisions.

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