Once you have, you should be good to get rid of your stubs as well. Credit card receipts and statements — You only need to keep your credit card receipts and statements long enough to verify that there are no fraudulent charges. The only time you would need to keep a credit card statement longer than that is if it contained information you might need while filing your taxes.
In that case, keep it with your other tax documents, and hold onto it for seven years. Brokerage statements — Keep your quarterly statements until you get your annual statement. Make sure they all agree with one another. Bills — Once your payment has cleared, you can get rid of your old bills. Personal Banking. How long should you keep important documents?
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Bank of America. Advertising Practices. Education Resource Center. Terms of Use. Not all content is available in Spanish. All rights reserved. Bank statements can also come in handy to show proof of purchases made by debit card, check, or bank transfer should someone claim you owe them money. And if you need to use a product warranty or file an insurance claim, a bank statement could help by confirming you made the connected purchases.
In some cases, the IRS suggests you keep records longer than three years due to the amount of time the agency can audit you. Having a way to store and keep track of your statements can make it easy to access information if and when you need it. Here are a few recordkeeping tips for hard-copy records:. With electronic statements being more and more common, you may opt to keep virtual records.
However, should you decide to go that route and keep them saved on a single device, you run the risk of losing records if the device crashes, gets lost, or is stolen. Consider backing up records on a secure secondary storage device or in a secure cloud environment. Another option with digital statements is contacting your bank to find out how long it keeps statements, so you can access them on demand as needed.
Time frames and fees can vary by institution and account type, so check before going this route. Keep your tax returns for seven years if you file a loss for bad debt or worthless securities. Pay stubs should be kept for at least 12 months so you can accurately file your taxes the following year. However, according to the IRS, you may want to keep your pay stubs on record for three years to back up your tax returns in case you are audited.
If you use a credit card for business , make sure you can access the records for at least three years to serve as proof if needed for your tax returns. Bank of America. Alternatively, if you're great at data entry, you can record your income and expenses in a bookkeeping program or a spreadsheet. After one year, it's safe to shred and discard the paper with one big exception: Anything that documents a tax deduction should be kept for at least three years.
The IRS says it rarely goes back farther than that in audits, although it reserves the option to do so. If your account is online, the records will be either archived online or available by special order from the bank or financial institution. American Express, for example, keeps three years worth of account transactions online and searchable.
Chase Bank users can access seven years of account activity. Access to a record of your recent purchases, bill payments, and payroll deposits is necessary for a number of reasons, not least as a proof of payment in case of a dispute. You should review your bank account activity regularly for evidence of identity theft and debit card fraud. The statements provide verification of illicit activity and are used to recover any damages.
You may need your bank statements when you do your income taxes in order to verify your income and costs such as charitable contributions and business expenses. Bank account statements confirming large purchases or payments may also be worth keeping. For example, you might need proof of purchase to file an insurance claim or use a warranty. You can shred automated teller machine ATM receipts once you reconcile them with your account records.
Deposit and withdrawal slips can be shredded once transactions are verified with the monthly statement. Many banks maintain monthly customer statements online for at least five years and they are easily accessible through their online banking apps and sites.
These statements usually come in printable formats. Summaries of transaction information are frequently available for download. You may be able to get hard copy statements from your bank going back a number of years. Some banks charge a search and printing fees for this service, as it cannot be done at the branch level.
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