Ask Maxi · Bookkeeping
How long do I need to keep tax records?
Three years for most things, longer for a few, and forever for the returns themselves.
- Receipts, bank and card statements, invoices: three years after you file. That is the normal audit window.
- Anything supporting income you might have under-reported: six years.
- Payroll records: four years after the tax is due.
- Property and equipment records: until you sell it, plus three years. Closing papers, improvement receipts, purchase records for anything you are depreciating.
- Copies of your filed returns: keep them permanently. They are small and they answer questions years later.
Scanned counts. One folder per tax year, backed up somewhere that is not just your laptop, and a shredding session each January for the year that just aged out.
If you are on a Cadence plan, documents you send us live in the Documents tab, so the returns and their supporting paper stay together without you maintaining a filing cabinet.
Want us to handle this for you? Bookkeeping + Tax →