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.