How long should i keep tax records and bank statements
- how long should i keep tax returns
- how long should i keep tax returns for a deceased person
- how long should i keep tax returns in canada
- how long should i keep tax returns and receipts
Does the irs destroy tax records after 7 years
How long does the irs keep copies of tax returns!
Can I just throw out those old documents in my basement? We asked accountants.
As you ransacked your basement in search of holiday decorations, perhaps you came upon boxes of documents from the last millennium.
And then you probably asked yourself: “Couldn’t I just throw these out?”
Companies and governments often have document retention policies. Most people do not.
Common wisdom suggests we keep important papers for seven years, for reasons that, we vaguely recall, have something to do with taxes.
For those of us with paper records dating to the Clinton administration, that would seem to mean you can throw them away.
But does that mean everything?
How long should you keep your tax records in case of an auditEarn rewards on your spending:See the best credit cards
We posed those questions to accountants and tax experts. Here’s what they told us.
Tax returns
Let’s start with the tax return, a near-universal document that fulfills our annual duty to Uncle Sam.
“The IRS can audit you for no reason, or any reason, for three years from the date you filed your return,” said Paul Mendelsohn, a CPA in Livingston, New Jersey.
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