Do You Know Where Your Tax Records Are?

Certified Field Agent can help you secure copies of old tax records from the IRS

Prevailing wisdom has long suggested that tax records and supporting documentation should be kept for seven years. While this is a good rule of thumb, it isn’t strictly necessary for all types of records. However, the fact remains that you do need to keep copies of your tax records for some period of time after filing. If you lose your tax records or they end up being destroyed by an act of God, Certified Field Agent can help you replace them. We can even keep electronic copies of your files on our secure server to help protect them from future disasters.

Specific Guidelines for Keeping Tax Records

Depending on the type of tax records and your reporting activities, you may need to keep your records for three years, seven years, or forever.

What to Keep for Three Years: Keep your tax returns and all supporting documentation for three years. If you file electronically, be sure to print a copy of your returns to protect against loss due to computer crashes. The reason you should keep your tax returns for three years is that the IRS has a three-year statute of limitations on claiming returns and assessing additional taxes.

What to Keep for Seven Years: Tax forms related to certain retirement accounts such as IRAs should be kept for seven years after the account has been closed. Any tax returns showing a claim for loss of worthless securities or bad debt should also be kept for seven years. Finally, if you amortize, appreciate, or sell any property noted on your return, you should keep those records for seven years, or until the relevant statute of limitations has expired.

What to Keep Forever: There are a few exceptions to the three-year statute of limitations. If you file a fraudulent tax return or fail to file, the IRS always reserves the right to audit you and assess additional tax. Therefore, you may want to keep any questionable tax returns forever so as to have evidence on hand to defend yourself if the IRS should ever choose to audit you.

How Certified Field Agent Can Help

If your past tax records have been lost, you can secure copies from the IRS. You can receive copies of the forms you filed as well as the relevant documentation filed on your behalf, such as W-2s and various 1099s. However, the process of ordering your tax records from the IRS can be quite tiresome. You can get the same end result with less stress and hassle by letting Certified Field Agent request and retrieve your tax records on your behalf.