Tax Records You Can Toss

Question: I just filed my taxes and am wondering what records I need to hold on to and what I can throw away?

Keep your actual tax returns forever. They can help when you, say, apply for a mortgage or disability insurance or need clues to the value of other assets. See Don’t Toss Your Tax Returns for more information. (You don’t need to keep the originals; you can scan the tax returns and keep a digital archive.)

The IRS generally has up to three years after the tax-filing deadline to initiate an audit, so you should hold on to supporting documents for at least that long. Those documents include credit-card statements, canceled checks, debit-card transactions and receipts showing deductions; letters from charities reporting gifts; and paperwork reporting mortgage interest, capital-gains distributions and income. “A few months ago, we saw an influx of clients getting letters from the IRS about their 2011 returns,” says Laurie Ziegler, an enrolled agent in Saukville, Wis., and a director on the board of the National Association of Enrolled Agents (enrolled agents are authorized to represent clients in front of the IRS). See IRS Publication 552, Recordkeeping for Individuals, for more information about tax records.

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