Current through Supplement No. 394, October, 2024
1. For purposes of
storage and retention, taxpayers may convert hard-copy documents received or
produced in the normal course of business and required to be retained under
this regulation to microfilm, microfiche, or other storage-only imaging systems
and may discard the original hard-copy documents, provided the conditions of
this section are met. Documents that may be stored on these media include
general books of account, journals, voucher registers, general and subsidiary
ledgers, and supporting records of details, such as sales invoices, purchase
invoices, exemption certificates, and credit memoranda.
2. Microfilm, microfiche, and other
storage-only imaging systems must meet the following requirements:
a. Documentation establishing the procedures
for converting the hard-copy documents to microfilm, microfiche, or other
storage-only imaging system must be maintained and made available on request.
Such documentation must, at a minimum, contain a sufficient description to
allow an original document to be followed through the conversion system as well
as internal procedures established for inspection and quality assurance.
b. Procedures must be established
for the effective identification, processing, storage, and preservation of the
stored documents and for making them available for the period they are required
to be retained under section
81-01.1-04-10.
c. Upon request by the tax commissioner, a
taxpayer must provide facilities and equipment for reading, locating, and
reproducing any documents maintained on microfilm, microfiche, or other
storage-only imaging system.
d.
When displayed on such equipment or reproduced on paper, the documents must
exhibit a high degree of legibility and readability. For this purpose,
legibility is defined as the quality of a letter or numeral which enables the
observer to identify it positively and quickly to the exclusion of all other
letters or numerals. Readability is defined as the quality of a group of
letters or numerals being recognizable as words or complete numbers.
e. All data stored on microfilm, microfiche,
or other storage-only imaging systems must be maintained and arranged in a
manner that permits the location of any particular record.
f. There is no substantial evidence that the
microfilm, microfiche, or other storage-only imaging system lacks authenticity
or integrity.
