The short answer is: none. You need to hold on to all of your 2015 tax records for now. But this is a great time to take a look at your records for previous tax years and determine what you can purge.

The 7-year rule

At minimum, keep tax records for as long as the IRS has the ability to audit your return or assess additional taxes. Given the worst-case scenario, this is six years after you file your return plus one year for good measure. This means you likely can shred and toss most records related to tax returns for 2008 and earlier years.

What tax records to keep longer

You’ll need to hang on to certain records beyond the statute of limitations:

  • Keep tax returns themselves forever, so you can prove to the IRS that you actually filed. (There’s no statute of limitations for an audit if you didn’t file a return.)
  • For W-2 forms, consider holding them until you begin receiving Social Security benefits. Why? In case a question arises regarding your work record or earnings for a particular year.
  • For records related to real estate or investments, keep documents as long as you own the asset, plus seven years after you sell it and report the sale on your tax return.

Just a starting point

This is only a sampling of retention guidelines for tax-related documents. For a more detailed explanation, please see our record retention guide available here:

    Record Retention Guide

If you have any questions, please contact us.

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DISCLAIMER

This blog post is designed to provide information about complex areas of tax law. The information contained in this blog post may change as a result of new tax legislation, Treasury Department regulations, Internal Revenue Service interpretations, or Judicial interpretations of existing tax law. This blog post is not intended to provide legal, accounting, or other professional services, and is provided with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services.

This blog post should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent tax advisor should be sought.