Fall cleaning often means throwing out a bunch of useless papers and junk. However, it’s a good idea to be careful of throwing away old tax returns.The general rule of thumb is to keep previous year tax returns for three years, although depending on your situation, you may need to keep old tax returns for a longer period of time.
You should keep tax returns for three years from the date you filed or three years from the due date. The reason is linked to the IRS statute of limitations. The IRS has the right to review (audit) all tax returns for three years. Not only that, they also have the right to request supporting documents for your income and deductions reported. That means, you should also keep any supporting documents for three years.
There are specific circumstances in which the three year rule does not apply. You should keep tax returns for more than three years in the following situations:
If you paid state income taxes, you may need to keep the records for longer than three years, depending on the state. The following states statutes of limitations that differ from the IRS include:
Arizona, California, Colorado Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin: Four Year Audit Period
Louisiana and New Mexico: Three years after December 31 of the year the tax is due.
Minnesota: Five Years
Tennessee: Three and half years if you filed a claim for refund. Five years if the IRS changed your federal return.
If you are sure you filed for a previous year and can’t find the return, don’t worry. The IRS has available, for up to seven years, all W-2 forms and attachments from your tax returns. In the situation that you will need to get these, you‘ll have to pay a fee and file form 4506.
In the case that you thought you had a prior year tax return but realized you actually didn’t file, you can file late with PriorTax. After filing your late taxes, remember you will keep your tax return three years from the date you file rather than three years from that tax year.
For those that have old tax returns on file, don’t be in a rush to shred them. While fall cleaning, organize and file away tax returns. In the case that you can throw them away, always be cautious of where you’re throwing documents with your personal information!
Photo via Jennie Faber on Flickr
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Comments(1)
phyllis i. murphy
Aug 15, 2014
My income in 2008 was only what I had received from social security, insufficient to require that I report. Then when we got the income tax rebate in 2008, during the recession, I went back and filed as was required. I recently threw this out because it was more than 3 years old.
Thank you.
Phyllis I. Murphy