Record retention for individual 1040?

I would keep the returns permanently. Supporting documents can be discarded after the appropriate statute of limitations expires for audits related to them.

Ira Smilovitz

I would keep the returns permanently. Supporting documents can be discarded after the appropriate statute of limitations expires for audits related to them. ============= Records affecting basis need be kept until the period of limitations for the LAST year it affects expires.

after the appropriate statute of limitations expires for audits related to them.

Ira - I mostly agree. In the early years when one has no real estate or stock purchase, the 3 year rule may be fine. But. My first year out of school I bought stocks, and I bought a property that turned into a rental. For both issues, cost basis and depreciation history goes back well beyond 10 years. (I realize the stock basis may not be part of the return, but closed transactions would be and serve as a record of which shares are not sold yet.)

after the appropriate statute of limitations expires for audits related to them.

Sorry for the confusion. The final "them" in my original post was meant to refer to the supporting documents, not the tax returns. More explicitly, "Supporting documents can be discarded after the appropriate statute of limitations expires for audits related to transactions involving those documents."

Ira Smilovitz