Posted on 03/02/2024 10:37:07 PM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
Take it from someone who has a hoard of legal accordion files stashed away in a hope chest: It’s a good idea to keep your tax records. However, if you’re going through a phase of trying to get rid of everything, the IRS is (sort of) clear on how many years to keep the paper trail.
How Long To Keep Your Tax Records
Let’s go in descending order:
Forever: If you never filed a return, or if you filed a fraudulent return (neither of which is recommended)
7 years: If you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or bad debt deduction
6 years: If you do not report income that you should report, and it is more than 25% of the gross income shown on your return
4 years: For all employment tax records (W-2, 1099, etc.) 3 years: If none of the above situations apply, or if you got a credit or refund when you filed That’s a lot to think about, though.
If you’re like most people, you should plan to “save all your receipts for four years, and save a copy of your tax return for seven years,” said Rus Garofalo, founder of Brass Taxes.
In short, the IRS has three years from the date you filed to come say, “Show me all your receipts!”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
In my case my thumb drive stopped working and I realized I had not backed it up for years. I now have several years of tax records not available. Not sure of the penalty.
Keep enough Ammo on hand to cover ten years of IRS thug attacks.
“...my thumb drive stopped working....”
More likely you.....
I wish. I took the drive to computer geeks in Huntsville AL and hope to have them recover the data. Was I stupid in not backing up this drive!
That said, if the government can use drive crashes as reason not to provide date, why can’t I? I have the tax returns, just not the backup data.
I’d say, with the regime, forever.
I wiped all my financial records with a cloth.
I keep my returns forever, but discard the supporting documents after five years.
If you keep records beyond their required retention date, they can be subpoenaed if the government finds out that you still have them.
-PJ
From birth to death...
I was born in 1933 and cannot find my records before 1990...
I wasn’t sure where I was tax-wise last year. As it turned out I had enough withholding to even get a refund after paying taxes
Because I was working part time in 2022 I think I paid $1500 or more in taxes. Still I got back about $400 which was great. 👍👍
I was looking for potential deductions but didn’t have enough to exceed the standard deduction level.
Still in my haste I filed it even though it made no difference. Oops 😬😬😬
Guess I should refile and remove my what-if deductions. Even though it won’t change my refund I’d like to do it.
Why Did The IRS Destroy 30 Million Paper Returns?
https://www.crapo.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/weekly-column-why-did-the-irs-destroy-30-million-paper-returns
the IRS destroyed an estimated 30 million paper-filed tax documents without processing them.
IRS unable to locate millions of tax records, watchdog says
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/10/watchdog-irs-tax-records-00110637
The watchdog said it found seven empty boxes at the IRS’ facility in Ogden, Utah, that should have contained as many as 168 microfilm cartridges, which hold up to 2,000 photographic images each, and that the IRS personnel there were unable to point to the location of the cartridges.
TIGTA noted that this may be because the vendor responsible for creating the cartridges went out of business abruptly in 2018.
______________
IRS cannot find millions of backup tax records, watchdog says
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/11/business/irs-tax-records-missing/index.html
The Internal Revenue Service cannot locate thousands of microfilm cartridges storing millions of sensitive business and individual tax account records
Forever should the records serve you well.
No statute of limits for murder and taxes IIRC.
Previous info was 7 years.
But now, a judge in New York probably decides on a case by case basis.
Yep, all of a sudden there will be a new law(regulation) allowing State to go back 30 years or more.
“TIGTA noted that this may be because the vendor responsible for creating the cartridges went out of business abruptly in 2018.”
Probably due to unpaid taxes:)
I may be one of the odd ones but I have every tax filing going back to the first year I filed (1968). I don’t save they because I may need them with the IRS but because they are an easy way to keep my personal history. They show where I lived and where I worked and how much (or how little) I made.
Not sure what I did with them before that, but I know I filed every year - didn't have much so it was an easy task to do myself.
My former CPA/CFP was audited by the IRS 5 times. His claim to fame was land trusts keeping “inheritance” taxes off properties to be kept in families to the tune of about 3 Billion dollars. They hounded him relentlessly, finally offering him a JOB as his work was so meticulous and he knew and studied tax code like Talmudic scholar does Torah.
HIS advice on keeping tax records?
IRS can, and have in his experience, subpoena records going back a decade and LONGER.
It doesn’t take up much space, kept in large envelopes about 3/4-1” thick per year. I keep records going back 20 years.
He was the first person to ever point out to me the often-missed detail that “The IRS” spells out “THEIRS.”
It’s NOT “our” money.
So I don’t have to keep the last 25 years worth of ‘everything’? Thanks for posting.
It’s best to turn them in by 4/15—or 10/15 with an extension.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.