topic How long to keep tax records? in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

How long to keep tax records?

billnicky — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 06:23:27 GMT

How long should tax records and returns be kept for?

Re: How long to keep tax records?

Critter-3 — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 13:39:50 GMT

Depends ... I tell my clients who file just personal returns 5 years is good ... longer if you have a business or rental or employees ...

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/how-long-should-i-keep-records#:~:text=Keep%20records%20for%203%20years%20from%20the%20date%20you%20filed,securities%20or%20bad%20debt%20deduction.

Re: How long to keep tax records?

billnicky — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 13:51:04 GMT

Thank you for your timely response. That's the information I was looking for.

Re: How long to keep tax records?

Mike9241 — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 20:25:02 GMT

documents you should keep longer

closing statement for home or property,

bills for major improvements to property

security confirmations (purchase side) until sold. (taxpayers sometimes change brokers and they new broker will need the cost for to property report if sold.

here's a thread on record retention by the Illinois CPA Society.

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.icpas.org%2Fdocs%2Fdefault-source%2Ftax-practice-procedures-files%2Frecords-retention-guidelines1a841fdf38106fba827cff0000493078.pdf%3Fsfvrsn%3Ddd94701d_0&clen=68784