What Tax Records Should You Keep and How Long Should You Keep Them?

This was soooo discouraging for me,,, even i know to Hold stuff longer and different than this applies. I am trying to get all my ducks in a row... seeking out advice,,, and I think i realized that common sense as one lady put it just praying works better than anything.
God gave us a brain and he expects us to use it... I guess I will have to use mine a litte more analytically hahaha... what a thought.

This article was an absolute waste of time! What was the point of this?

I worked with Dept of Revenue.... You should keep all your tax returns for at least 20 years, the law says a tax collector can go back collecting the tax was created...and if you have no proof guess what your stuck... Trust me working in Dept of Revenue for 31 yrs ..I learned alot...I have collected taxes back 50 yrs with a corporation.....I dealt with
Employer, sales, realtor, inherence and many more...KEEP ALL YOUR PAPERS

this article is not good at all.

Unbelievable :(

ah, THANK YOU commenters, this is terrible. not informative in the least.

Doesn't this strike anyone as superfluous as paying taxes is originally supposed and intended to be voluntary. Why must any law abiding citizen be forced to prove that he/she obeyed they law, 1 3 5 years in the past. Presumption of innocence? Learn what right that law grants!

I agree with cw above! This is misleading information. I was audited over travel expenses by the government 9 years after they were paid out! Fortunately I had all the required paperwork to avoid unnecessary taxes, but had I not kept the records I would have had to pay out a few hundred dollars of 'unfiled' taxes! Beyond about 12-15 years I get rid of receipts, but I keep monthly statements for indefinate periods of time. It's a lot to carry around, but as I have already found out, worth the cost and hastle...

CW -- I was told the IRS can only go back 7 years to collect. Don't know if that is true since they went back 1996 on yours.

katherine,

My biggest complaint with the article is that it's entirely inaccurate. It perpetuates and promulgates the old IRS record keeping myth. Unfortunately, a lot of Yahoo! attention grabbing stories seem to be worthless, written by inexperienced people regurgitating misinformation they glom through Google.

I was audited 15 years ago. I was putting my husband through College and had 2 children. I the wife was the sole supporter of my family for 4 years. I was making barely 30,000 a year with no other income of any sort. They treated me like dirt at the IRS Department in BMT TX. And after a year declared there was no wrong doing with my tax returns. My husband and I were scared to death for a whole year for nothing. The lady at the IRS seemed more like a NAZI Agent in an American Establishment! There was no apologizing of any sort! We were in our mid 20's and didn't have a clue

This article was not helpful. Agree with comments posted. Poor.

My husband and me kept our form for 10 years. This year we got a letter saying that we didn't pay Ohio taxes in 1995,97,98,99 and that we lived somewhere where never did. Now we have to prove that we didn't live there. So from now on I plan to keep them indefinely.

If everyone would contact their Congressional Representatives and Senators and INSIST that they make The FairTax (H.R.25 & S.25) law, NO taxpayers, personal or corporate, would ever be beholden to the IRS again! Check out www.fairtax.org, the DO SOMETHING about it!

The IRS can accuse anyone of fraud anytime. How do you defend yourself with records discarded on authority of this author. Maybe she can pay the tax, penalty and interset.

Ms. Murphy - Daylight Savings Time must really have you off-kilter. The headline states "What Tax Records Should You Keep and How Long Should You Keep Them?" . . . yet you state what basic records to keep - and when you state 'how long should you keep them' - you only provide a time line for those records that are fraudulent or have omissions. Are you saying keep all records forever, and not so long for those that are fraudulent and/or with omissions? Because honestly, that's how it reads . . . Sheesh! Were you writing this for the average citizen, or just tax cheats?

If you receive a W-2 you should keep a copy until you start receiving social security benefits. That way, if there's a dispute in your work history, you have the proof to back it up.

Articule irrelevant. I can remember yrs ago, it was said that you should keep at least 10yrs of tax return info because u never know when the IRS may want to audit u out of the blue! Well, I've kept every return with records to support for all my adult life. I wouldn't take a chance discarding anything that involves the IRS.

I am so pissed about the IRS. Maybe someone can give me advise?
Just recently I found out I owed the IRS money for 2004. How did I find out? I am on disability because of blod clots in both lungs. Its been a about a year since I got out of the hospital. One month, I notice $213 was being taking out of my disability. It took me three months to finally find out who and why money was being taking out. Its hard enough to live on disability, and now I just found out that the IRS was taking it out because of some money I owed for a mistake my CPA did back in 2004, regarding payroll and some 1099's or something. When I was talking to someone over the phone,(from the IRS) they knew it was me, with all the info I had to given them over the phone, "but", they refuse to let me know how much I ow, including the penalty & interest. "Plus", they took my $1015 that was coming to me from 2008 tax return. They said I have to fill out a paper with change of address, with all the info they wanted. Two months had passed, and called them back. They advised me to go to a office in Sacramento, to fill out a change of address form. I waited in line for a hour just to do that. Anyone out there can give me some advise, I would appreciate it. I would think my CPA should be responsible. My CPA filed for me from
1996 to 2007. That is way I hired a CPA, so I wouldn't go thru with this. I called a lawyer, but he did not call me back. P.S, I still haven't heard from the IRS, but I am sure they are still be charging me penalty & interest.... :-(

This article is misleading. The correct answer to the question is: You must keep records as long as necessary to verify the computation of your income or losses. The author has provided some of the common statutes of limitations for assessments and refund claims. That is not the answer for record retention.

Assume you bought stock 15 years ago for $10,000 and sold it this year for $8,000. To be sure that the IRS will allow the $2,000 loss on this year's return, you may need proof that you paid $10,000 for the stock 15 years ago. Under the statute of limitations, the IRS has three years after this year's return is filed to dispute the claimed loss.