Yes, retention of records is mandatory due to the Federal Records Act. The IRS should store their e-mail on the server, and use IMAP, MS Exchange, or similar. F

Yes, retention of records is mandatory due to the Federal Records Act. The IRS should store their e-mail on the server, and use IMAP, MS Exchange, or similar. Failure to properly store records is illegal, and not using a proper mailserver configuration is extremely convenient incompetence. It's so convenient, and so high a degree of incompetence, that it looks very much like willful destruction of evidence.