This article will help reduce what is often a closet full of old tax records. When you boil it all down, keeping tax returns to seven years after filing is good – generally.
Source: DVM Management, June 19, 2018. Link.
Important note: Although you can discard backup records, do not throw away the filed copies of any tax returns or W-2s. Often, these returns provide data that can be used in future tax-return calculations or to prove the amounts of property transactions, social security benefits, and so on. You should also keep certain records for longer than 3 years
- Stock acquisition data.
- Statements for stocks and mutual funds with reinvested dividends.
- Tangible property purchase and improvement records.