Below you’re going to find the factually correct information for how long to keep your records.

However, I suggest that you keep all tax documents and your supporting documents for a minimum of 7 years, due to unforeseen changes made by the agency.

In addition to this, never throw away your original W2’s or 1099 miscellaneous income forms. The reason for this is, the Social Security Administration uses this information to determine your social security checks at retirement. Periodically, from time to time the Social Security Office upgrades their computer systems. When this happens, they do what is called a batch rollover, inevitably information is lost during this process. The only document that they will accept as proof of income for any tax year is your original W2’s and 1099’s.