For most federal tax records, the answer to how long to keep tax records is three years from the date you filed the return or its due date, whichever is later. That matches the window the IRS generally has to assess additional tax.1Internal Revenue Service. Time IRS Can Assess Tax But three years is the floor, not the ceiling. Several common situations push the retention period to six years, seven years, or indefinitely, and a few categories of records need to be kept far longer because they support numbers that will appear on a future return.
The Three-Year Default
Three years covers the ordinary case: you filed on time, reported your income accurately, and claimed deductions you can back up. After that window closes, the IRS generally cannot assess more tax, so the W-2s, 1099s, receipts, and bank statements that support the return can be discarded.2Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records
The clock runs from the later of the filing date or the due date. A return filed in February for the prior tax year starts its three-year clock on the April due date, not the February filing date.
When Three Years Isn’t Enough
Several circumstances extend the retention period, and some of them apply more often than taxpayers realize.
Six Years for Substantial Underreporting
If you underreport gross income by more than 25 percent, the IRS has six years instead of three to assess additional tax.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6501 – Limitations on Assessment and Collection You may believe your return is accurate and still get caught in a dispute about whether a particular item counted as gross income. Holding records for six years builds in a buffer against that argument.
Seven Years for Worthless Securities and Bad Debts
Claiming a deduction for a worthless security or a bad debt extends the retention period for those supporting records to seven years from the date you filed.2Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records
Property Records Until Long After You Sell
Anything that establishes the cost basis of an asset needs to stay with you for as long as you own the asset, and then through the full limitation period for the year you sell it. The closing statement from a home purchase, receipts for permanent improvements like a new roof, and records of casualty losses all adjust your basis and reduce the taxable gain at sale. A home owned for 20 years and then sold means keeping those records for roughly 23 years.
The same logic applies to securities and digital assets. Brokerage statements showing purchase dates and prices support the gain or loss when you sell, and for cryptocurrency the IRS expects you to track the fair market value in U.S. dollars at the time of each purchase, sale, or exchange, along with the date and number of units involved.4Internal Revenue Service. Digital Assets
Indefinitely for Unfiled or Fraudulent Returns
There is no limitation period for a year in which you filed a fraudulent return or didn’t file at all. The IRS can assess tax at any time, so keep every record for those years permanently.2Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records
Records With Their Own Clocks
Nondeductible IRA Contributions
Nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA carry one of the longest retention obligations an individual taxpayer faces. For every year you make such a contribution, you file Form 8606, and you must keep copies of every Form 8606 along with the front page of that year’s return until you’ve withdrawn every dollar from the account.5Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 8606 – Nondeductible IRAs Losing track of your basis means paying tax a second time on money you already contributed after tax.
Employment Tax Records
If you have employees, a separate four-year rule applies. Payroll records, withholding certificates, deposit receipts, copies of W-2s, tip allocations, dates of employment, and documentation for fringe benefits must be kept at least four years after the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.6Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide This runs alongside, not instead of, the personal income tax retention periods.
Copies of the Return Itself
Your filed Form 1040 (or Form 1120 for a corporation) is itself worth keeping beyond the limitation period.2Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records Prior-year returns support carryover deductions, net operating losses, and capital loss carryforwards, and mortgage lenders, business loan underwriters, and federal student aid applications routinely ask to see them. Keeping the last three to seven years on hand is practical even when the IRS no longer needs them.
What Counts as a Tax Record
The retention periods above apply to anything that supports a number on your return. Federal law requires taxpayers to keep whatever records the Secretary of the Treasury prescribes, and in practice that covers four broad groups.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6001 – Notice or Regulations Requiring Records, Statements, and Special Returns
Income documents include Form W-2 from employers, Form 1099-NEC for independent contractor payments, Form 1099-MISC for other income like rent, Form 1099-INT for interest, and Form 1099-DIV for dividends.8Internal Revenue Service. Forms and Associated Taxes for Independent Contractors Bank and brokerage statements fill in deposits that don’t appear on a standard tax form.
Expense and deduction proof means receipts, canceled checks, invoices, mileage logs, charitable acknowledgment letters, medical bills tied to HSA distributions, and the mortgage, utility, and insurance records behind a home office claim. Basis records cover closing statements, improvement receipts, and brokerage confirmations. Return copies round out the file.
Storing Records Electronically
You don’t have to keep paper. The IRS accepts electronic records under Revenue Procedure 97-22 if your storage system produces accurate, legible copies on demand, includes controls against unauthorized changes, maintains an indexing system comparable to an organized paper file, and can generate hard copies when requested.9Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 97-22 Electronic Storage System Requirements Once the system is in place and tested, you can destroy the paper originals.
Scanning receipts with a phone app or saving documents in cloud accounting software meets the standard, provided the images are clear and quickly retrievable. Every letter and number must be positively identifiable on screen or in print.
If Your Records Are Lost
A fire, flood, or disorganized filing cabinet doesn’t automatically forfeit your deductions. Courts recognize a principle from the 1930 case Cohan v. Commissioner that lets taxpayers use reasonable estimates when primary records are unavailable, provided there’s some factual basis for the estimate.
That fallback has a hard boundary. It does not apply to categories subject to strict substantiation under Section 274(d) of the tax code: travel, gifts, and listed property like a vehicle or a laptop used for both personal and business purposes.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 274 – Disallowance of Certain Entertainment, Etc., Expenses For those expenses, no records means no deduction.
For everything else, bank and credit card statements can reconstruct spending. Employers, charities, and financial institutions often keep copies of what they sent you. The IRS “Get Transcript” tool on IRS.gov delivers prior-year return information and the income data the IRS has on file immediately, and Form 4506-T requests the same by mail.11Internal Revenue Service. Get Your Tax Records and Transcripts After a federally declared disaster, the IRS offers extended deadlines and assistance through its disaster relief line at 800-908-9946.12Internal Revenue Service. After Disaster Strikes, Getting Copies of Important Records Can Help People Rebuild Their Lives