Plus you don’t have to have an ugly filing cabinet in your home office. That way, they are instantly accessible, can never be lost, and can never be altered or stolen. Take pictures of everything, upload them, and keep them in one shareable document.

Buy a cabinet and a bunch of folders, label each drawer by year, and label each folder according to what’s inside (W2s, receipts, etc.).

Most people just leave their coffee-stained 1040s buried under a stack of papers in their office. There’s no rule on how to store your tax records. How to Organize Your Tax Records: Old School vs New School When it does, you better hope you can support your claims.Īlso, having access to previous records makes filing future tax returns a lot easier. Nobody ever gets audited…until it happens to you. What if Uncle Sam decides he wants a little more information from you?

Records showing your contributions to deductible retirement savings like an IRAīasically, anything that supports a claim made on your taxes should be stored for a minimum of 3 years in a manner that makes them easy to access.

1098 forms (If you deducted mortgage interest).

The IRS recommends you keep your tax returns for a minimum of 3 years.

How to Digitize Your Taxes in 6 Easy Steps.

Why You Should Keep Your Old Tax Returns.

How to get pdf file for w2s