WTHR hosts Community Shred-It Day this Saturday
“I recommend keeping the paper at least for three years. That’s as long as the IRS has to audit you,” said Kimberly Lankford, senior editor for Kiplinger Magazine.
Lankford also says after keeping them a bit longer, you can even shred the old tax returns themselves.
“You may want to keep it for six years, just because there’s more chances that you may be misusing something. But generally after that six years you’re generally safe unless you’ve done something horribly wrong,” said Lankford
To be safe, you can always digitize the old returns.
“Just keep a digital copy. So you may want to go back to some of your old tax records and just scan them, digitize them, take a picture on your cell phone. You can save it onto a PDF, keep it on your computer. Keep a safe copy somewhere else and you don’t need to take up much space but it’s there if you need it,” Lankford suggested.
For stock documents, be sure to keep hard copies for tax purposes down the road, just for as long as you own the stock.
Lankford also says that shredding those things will be better than putting them into one trash bag. That way thieves don’t have a chance to steal your identity.
Lankford also says that ATM receipts, bank deposit slips, and pay stubs can be disposed of monthly, unless they are important to future tax returns.
“Community Shred It Day” is this weekend. Channel 13 is one of the locations where you can drop off your unwanted documents and have them shredded.
The event runs from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on Saturday.
Crimestoppers collects a $5 donation for each box of documents you bring.
You can also drop off small electronics, computers and prescription drugs.
