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Rossen Reports: Do this to protect your private tax documents

Rossen Reports: Do this to protect your private tax documents
Hi. Yeah, this is *** perfect question for tax season. Our viewer Leroux asks, how long do I need to keep sensitive papers? Great question. Let's start with tax records. You wanna keep those for 3 to 7 years? Why so long an answer? Three years is the statute of limitations. The IRS has to audit you. So you're gonna wanna have those papers in case they come after you. But six years is how long they have if you misrepresent your income by more than 25% so six years they can come at you if you misrepresent your income. Now seven years is how long you have to file *** claim in case, let's say you have an investment, it goes to zero. You know, you won't make money on it anymore. So you need that proof for deduction. So keep your stuff for up to seven years. As for regular pay stubs and regular statements, keep those for *** year better yet go paperless your employer. Your bank should have all those available for you online for *** lot of years. Utility bills get rid of those as soon as you can verify your payment went through. You don't need those, be sure to shred any documents you're throwing out to protect your personal information, just shred it. You can also scan your documents and back them up to *** password protected, external hard drive as an extra layer of security. Of course, there are some documents you need to keep forever. Things like birth certificate, social security cards, you know, your marriage certificate, if you're divorced, your divorce papers, basically anything difficult to replace. And you know, you go to the DMV and they're like, we're gonna need that. Keep it, keep those in *** locked location like *** safe, make sure it's not in one obvious place in case of *** break in Larue. We hope that helps. And if you at home have any questions, you'd like me to answer *** consumer wise email. I really know *** lot about consumer. You can ask me anything but I really specialize in consumer at Rawson responds at hurst.com and hurst is hea rst.com back to you.
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Rossen Reports: Do this to protect your private tax documents
The deadline to file your taxes is just days away. Whether you've already filed or you're waiting until the last minute, you may be wondering what to do with the sensitive papers you've collected. Here's how long you should keep them.Tax records: Keep 3-7 years. This is because the IRS has 3 years to audit you, but that goes up to 6 years if you misrepresent your income by more than 25%. You also have 7 years to file a claim for loss of worthless securities or a bad debt deduction.Pay stubs and regular statements: Keep for one year. You can also go paperless since your bank should have these available for you online.Utility bills: Keep for one month, or however long it takes to verify your payment went through.Forever documents: Anything that's difficult to replace, like birth certificates, Social Security cards, marriage certificates and divorce papers, you'll want to keep permanently in a locked location, like a safe. Be sure to shred any sensitive documents you're disposing of to protect your personal information. You can also scan your documents and back them up to a password-protected external hard drive as an extra layer of security.Have a question for Jeff Rossen? He’s answering your consumer questions every Friday in the new segment “Rossen Responds.” Email your questions to him at RossenResponds@hearst.com.

The deadline to file your taxes is just days away. Whether you've already filed or you're waiting until the last minute, you may be wondering what to do with the sensitive papers you've collected. Here's how long you should keep them.

Tax records: Keep 3-7 years. This is because the IRS has 3 years to audit you, but that goes up to 6 years if you misrepresent your income by more than 25%. You also have 7 years to file a claim for loss of worthless securities or a bad debt deduction.

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Pay stubs and regular statements: Keep for one year. You can also go paperless since your bank should have these available for you online.

Utility bills: Keep for one month, or however long it takes to verify your payment went through.

Forever documents: Anything that's difficult to replace, like birth certificates, Social Security cards, marriage certificates and divorce papers, you'll want to keep permanently in a locked location, like a safe.

Be sure to shred any sensitive documents you're disposing of to protect your personal information. You can also scan your documents and back them up to a password-protected external hard drive as an extra layer of security.

Have a question for Jeff Rossen? He’s answering your consumer questions every Friday in the new segment “Rossen Responds.” Email your questions to him at RossenResponds@hearst.com.