1.15.2. Types of Records and Their Life Cycles

(1) Major goals of the program are to furnish accurate and complete information when required to manage and operate the organization, and to provide information and records storage at the lowest possible cost. The mission of the RIM Program is to provide guidance and oversee related functions and processes which ensure that IRS records are available where and when they are needed, to whom they are needed, for only as long as they are needed, in order to conduct business, adequately document IRS activities, and protect the interests of the federal government and American taxpayers.

(1) 44 USC 3301, Definition of records

(2) 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Chapter XII, Subchapter B - 1222.14, What are nonrecord materials?

(3) 36 CFR Chapter XII, Subchapter B - 1222.20, How are personal files defined and managed?

(4) 36 CFR Chapter XII, Subchapter B - 1223, Managing Vital Records

(5) 36 CFR Chapter XII, Subchapter B - 1222.26, What are the general recordkeeping requirements for agency programs?

(6) 36 CFR Chapter XII, Subchapter B - 1234, Facility Standards for Records Storage Facilities

(7) 36 CFR Chapter XII, Subchapter B - 1236, Electronic Records Management

(8) 5 USC Appendix 2 - Federal Advisory Committee Act, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2012-title5/pdf/USCODE-2012-title5-app-federalad.pdf

(9) National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Essential Records Guide: https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/essential-records/essential-records-guide

(1) This IRM is used by all IRS employees and contractors to ensure compliance with paper and electronic records management requirements.

(1) The RIM Program is evaluated using the following reviews and reports:

• Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA): The annual RMSA asks questions that assess compliance with records management statutes and regulations, as well as NARA policies and guidance.

• Federal Electronic Records and Email Management Reporting: This report not only evaluates federal agency email management, it also seeks to assess the current state of all electronic records management at federal agencies (including email and permanent electronic records).

• Senior Agency Official for Records Management (SAORM) Annual Report: This report gathers data on agency progress towards the goals of the OMB/NARA Update to Transition to Electronic Records memo (M-23-07) and other important records management initiatives as identified by NARA.

• Form 14377, Records and Information Management Virtual Program Review Self Assessment Checklist: This checklist is utilized as a self-assessment tool to assist the field site offices with records management policies and procedures. In addition, it will measure RIM goals and stimulate better fiscal management.

• Form 14377-A, IRS Records and Information Management (RIM) Evaluation Checklist: PGLD requires all business unit information resource coordinator (IRC) contacts to complete this form on a quarterly basis. The purpose of the form is to ensure and document IRS recordkeeping compliance as defined by NARA. Completing the Form 14377-A identifies to PGLD:IRP:RIM potential gaps for training opportunities to assist the business unit with their recordkeeping responsibilities.

(1) Records Management Mandatory Briefing: Every IRS employee and contractor must protect the information they handle daily to carry out their job responsibilities. They must annually take the Records Management Mandatory Briefing Integrated Talent Management (ITM) course #62965, Records Management Awareness, to ensure IRS records management is efficient, effective, and compliant with all applicable records management laws and regulations.

(1) The table lists commonly used acronyms and terms:

(1) Employees will find helpful information on the following sites:

• Records and Information Management SharePoint https://irsgov.sharepoint.com/sites/ETD-KMT-KB003/SitePages/RecordsManagement/Lifecycle_Activities_Support/Records_Lifecycle_Activities_and_Support.aspx

• 44 USC 3301, Definition of a record https://www.archives.gov/about/laws/disposal-of-records.html#def

• 36 CFR Chapter XII Subchapter B, Records Management codes https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2011-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title36-vol3-chapXII-subchapB.pdf

• Document 12829, General Records Schedules

• Document 12990, IRS Records Control Schedules

(1) Essential Records (also referred to as Vital Records) are those records considered essential to the continued operation of the IRS before, during and after an emergency or disaster. They can also be records essential to protecting the legal and financial rights and interests of the IRS and the individuals directly affected by its activities. Essential Records will be typically identified in the course of continuity of operations (COOP) carried out in the context of IRS emergency management. This type of Essential Records planning is mandatory. See 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1223, Managing Vital Records at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2011-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title36-vol3-chapXII-subchapB.pdf and NARA’s Essential Records Guide at https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/essential-records/essential-records-guide.

(2) IRS Essential Records include:

• Mission statements in an emergency

• Plans and programs for carrying out the mission

• Statements of delegations of authority and of succession to command

• Staffing assignments

• Information about IRS employees' payroll, fiscal records, property, and activities including contractual agreements and IRS legal binding documents

• Copies of basic legislation, regulations, and procedures

• The Master File

(3) The Servicewide IRS Records Officer (also referred to as the IRS Records Officer) and https://irsgov.sharepoint.com/sites/ETD-KMT-KB003/SitePages/RecordsManagement/Lifecycle_Activities_Support/Records_Lifecycle_Activities_and_Support.aspx, as well as Facilities Management and Security Services (FMSS), and Privacy, Governmental Liaison and Disclosure (PGLD) personnel are involved in assisting the Office of Continuity Operations with continuity of operations planning and with developing the Essential Records program. Essential Records are divided into two categories:

1. Emergency Operating Records (e.g., delegations of authority, building plans, equipment inventories, system documentation); and

2. Rights and Interest Records (e.g., payroll, retirement, insurance, social security, accounts receivable records, contracts).

(4) The Servicewide Records and Information Management (RIM) staff deals with both types of Essential Records to ensure they are appropriately identified and scheduled, and will:

1. Work with functional areas in IRS Headquarters to transfer applicable records to IRS COOP identified ready sites and/or new storage locations to ensure the continuation of the IRS business in COOP-defined crises (e.g., man-made or natural disaster) as appropriate;

2. When applicable, conduct an annual inspection of the emergency operating records at the storage locations to verify the inventory and implement any needed updates (the transfer of new records or destruction of eligible records at these sites) accordingly; and

3. Annually monitor the activity of these records and update as necessary.

(5) In carrying out the Essential Records program, it is important that:

1. IRS employees understand their responsibilities in identifying and protecting those records that specify how the IRS will operate in case of an emergency or disaster;

2. Designation of, and the records themselves, are correct and complete; and

3. The records, originals or copies, are protected, accessible and immediately usable as needed.

(1) Personal documents are documentary materials belonging to an employee that are not used to conduct IRS business. They are of a personal nature and relate solely to an individual's personal and private affairs or are used exclusively for their convenience. They may refer to or comment on the subject matter of IRS business, provided they are not used to conduct that business. Personal documents should be marked as such and should be kept separate from IRS records. See 36 CFR Part 1222.20, How are personal files defined and managed, at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2011-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title36-vol3-chapXII-subchapB.pdf.

(2) Work-related items, such as diaries, journals, notes, personal calendars, and appointment schedules, that are not prepared, received, or used in the process of transacting IRS business. Although these materials contain work-related information, they are personal documents if they are claimed as such and are for the employee's exclusive use and/or convenience.

(1) Non-record material is a term used for documents that are not included with the definition of "records". All such materials serve purposes other than "records" purposes. See 36 CFR Part 1222.14 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2011-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title36-vol3-chapXII-subchapB.pdf.

(1) Electronic records are records that are stored in a form that only a computer can process. Electronic records are also called machine-readable records. These records are defined as numeric, graphic, audio and textual information, recorded on any medium (e.g., magnetic, tape, optical disk, or CD-ROM) and which satisfy the overall definition of a record. Review 36 CFR Part 1236 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2011-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title36-vol3-chapXII-subchapB.pdf.

(2) This definition applies to all electronic information systems, including individual laptop and desktop computers, regardless of storage media, in network or stand-alone configurations.

(1) Microfilm is a film bearing a miniature photographic copy of printed or other graphic matter, usually of a document, newspaper, or book pages, etc., made for a library, archive, or repository. Microfiche is a sheet of flat film, 105 x 148 mm in size, the same size as the international standard for paper size ISO A6. It carries a matrix of micro images. All microfiche is read with its text parallel to the long side of the fiche. Along the top of the fiche a title may be recorded for visual identification and reference purposes.

(2) For records management purposes, microform records are treated like hardcopy (analog records). However, agencies must store microform records under specific conditions that will ensure their preservation for their authorized retention period, and unlike hardcopy, the destruction method is incineration, not shredding or shredding/pulping. Review 36 CFR Part 1238 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2011-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title36-vol3-chapXII-subchapB.pdf for microform format standards, storage, use and disposition requirements.

(1) A document that is made or received in the transaction of IRS business and provides evidence of the organization, function, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other IRS activities is a record.

(2) Multiple copies of the same document, including messages created or received on email systems, may all have record status depending upon the administrative requirements of the information or data which they contain.

(1) Employees maintain and use records for the organization's current work, according to approved records disposition authorities, which are published in Document 12990 , Records Control Schedules and in Document 12829, General Records Schedules. Any action which involves storing, retrieving, and handling records kept in an office for current use is considered the second stage of the records life cycle.

(1) A Records Control Schedule (RCS) is a listing of records series which provides mandatory instructions for what to do with records no longer needed for current business. The comprehensive IRS RCS comes from two sources:

1. NARA-approved records disposition authorities for IRS program-specific records published in Document 12990, and

2. NARA's General Records Schedules for records series common to most federal agencies published in Document 12829.

(2) All new/updated RCS disposition requests must be reviewed and approved by the IRS Records Officer and NARA prior to implementation and use by the IRS. Therefore, IRS staff are reminded not to develop or revise records retention instructions for organizational and functional (i.e., program) operations without first consulting the Servicewide RIM Program.

(3) All RCS apply to records that will or may accumulate in an office, and they provide a legal disposition authority for:

1. Continued retention and preservation of records of historical value;

2. Systematic retirement of records to a Records Center; and

3. The destruction or other disposal of records no longer having sufficient administrative, legal, research or other value warranting their further retention.

Note: Destruction is the action taken regarding records no longer needed and usually consists of burning, pulping, shredding, or discarding with other waste material according to specific requirements established by the IRS Office of Privacy under the Office of Privacy, Governmental Liaison and Disclosure (PGLD).

(4) Use of Records Control Schedules and their instructions is mandatory under 44 USC 3303a(b) and is applied on a continuing basis.

(5) Records series common to most federal agencies are published in Document 12829, General Records Schedules and include disposition instructions for IRS Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) business.

1. Records management/retention requirements for FAC business are covered under General Records Schedule (GRS) 6.2, Federal Advisory Committee Records.

2. Substantive (permanent) records created by committee members include correspondence documenting decisions, discussions, or actions relating to the work of the committee, including email, exchanged between one or more committee members and/or agency committee staff (such as Designated Federal Officer, DFO). A DFO is assigned to each committee to ensure compliance with FACA, and any other applicable laws and regulations; calls, attends, and adjourns committee meetings; approves agendas; and maintains committee records. These records must be transferred to NARA when records are fifteen (15) years old or upon termination of the committee, whichever is sooner.

3. Excluded from this sub-set of substantive committee member communications are temporary records relating to purely logistical or administrative aspects of committee activities, such as meeting planning (e.g., location, administrative issues and other meeting arrangements). These records (including emails) can be deleted when no longer needed, and do not require copying the committee mailbox.

4. Refer to IRM 1.15.6, Managing Electronic Records, for more information on FAC email recordkeeping requirements and management of committee organizational mailboxes.

(1) Some of the exceptions to applying the authorized dispositions for records are listed in the table below: