10/12/2026
"How long should I keep this?" doesn't have one answer — it depends on what a record might need to support later.
The IRS's general rule is three years from when you filed, since that's the standard window to assess additional tax. But that floor moves: if you underreported income by more than 25% of what you showed on the return, the window extends to six years. Claims related to bad debt or worthless securities get seven years. Employment tax records need to be kept at least four years. And if a return was never filed, or was fraudulent, there's no time limit at all.
The practical takeaway isn't "keep everything forever" — it's knowing which records fall into a longer window so they don't get cleared out on a standard three-year schedule by habit.