Ellen Chang is a freelance journalist who is based in Houston and writes articles for U.S. News & World Report. Chang previously covered investing, retirement and personal finance for TheStreet. She focuses her articles on stocks, personal financ.
Ellen Chang ContributorEllen Chang is a freelance journalist who is based in Houston and writes articles for U.S. News & World Report. Chang previously covered investing, retirement and personal finance for TheStreet. She focuses her articles on stocks, personal financ.
Written By Ellen Chang ContributorEllen Chang is a freelance journalist who is based in Houston and writes articles for U.S. News & World Report. Chang previously covered investing, retirement and personal finance for TheStreet. She focuses her articles on stocks, personal financ.
Ellen Chang ContributorEllen Chang is a freelance journalist who is based in Houston and writes articles for U.S. News & World Report. Chang previously covered investing, retirement and personal finance for TheStreet. She focuses her articles on stocks, personal financ.
Contributor Doug Whiteman Personal Finance EditorDoug Whiteman is an award-winning journalist with three decades of experience covering personal finance, starting when he was the Washington, D.C.-based consumer news editor and reporter for Associated Press Radio in the 1990s and early 2000s. He's p.
Doug Whiteman Personal Finance EditorDoug Whiteman is an award-winning journalist with three decades of experience covering personal finance, starting when he was the Washington, D.C.-based consumer news editor and reporter for Associated Press Radio in the 1990s and early 2000s. He's p.
Doug Whiteman Personal Finance EditorDoug Whiteman is an award-winning journalist with three decades of experience covering personal finance, starting when he was the Washington, D.C.-based consumer news editor and reporter for Associated Press Radio in the 1990s and early 2000s. He's p.
Doug Whiteman Personal Finance EditorDoug Whiteman is an award-winning journalist with three decades of experience covering personal finance, starting when he was the Washington, D.C.-based consumer news editor and reporter for Associated Press Radio in the 1990s and early 2000s. He's p.
| Personal Finance Editor
Updated: Oct 28, 2022, 11:21am
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If you’re like many Americans, you may have tax returns from a decade ago languishing in a filing cabinet. But you don’t need to hold on to tax documents for as long as you might think.
In almost all cases, you can shred or throw away any documents such as W-2s, 1099s or other forms or receipts three years after you file your tax return.
The IRS recommends keeping returns and other tax documents for three years—or two years from when you paid the tax, whichever is later. The IRS has a statute of limitations on conducting audits, and it’s limited to three years.
There are some exceptions. Keep documents for seven years on worthless stocks or bad loans you’ve made, says Nell Curtis, an accounting instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College in Wisconsin.
“This is because the IRS has a longer statute of limitations for investigating those things and therefore could ask for supporting documentation beyond the standard three-year time frame,” she says.
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ContributorEllen Chang is a freelance journalist who is based in Houston and writes articles for U.S. News & World Report. Chang previously covered investing, retirement and personal finance for TheStreet. She focuses her articles on stocks, personal finance, energy and cybersecurity. Her byline has appeared in national business publications, including USA Today, CBS News, Yahoo Finance MSN Money, Bankrate, Kiplinger and Fox Business. She is a proud graduate of Purdue University and a lover of random acts of kindness, volunteering and cats and dogs. Follow her on Twitter at @ellenychang and Instagram at @ellenyinchang.
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