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My parents were away and my Freshman brother made the Football team... there was a $50 single premium injury plan and I filled it out and paid for it with my check...
Later that year my brother injured his knee and needed surgery.
The insurance company denied the claim saying there was no policy in force.
I was only 17 at the time... and had written only a few check... Dad was not happy and then I produced my cancelled check... from my checking account.
It made all the difference and the claim was paid in full...
Doesn't anyone watch Judge Judy... dumb question as 20 million do each week... it is all about proof.
I had an audit to establish improvement made on a rental property... they looked back 7 years.
I had cancelled checks, receipts, credit card statements and warranties... the auditor spent about 10 minutes and said I think we are done...
I did a lot to the home... the roof alone was 23k... plus foundation, siding, deck, driveway...
It really taught me the value of keeping good records.
As mentions... it really doesn't take much to store... I have a giveaway metal 4 drawer file cabinet in the garage and only two drawers are full... your mileage may vary.
Keeping tax records is different from keeping credit card statements and bills. When you're audited, they want the actual receipt not credit card statements.
no need for paper statements in this day and age..if you do get them, check them against what you know to be true, then toss them..
It would be nice not to need records... but sadly the IRS audit just requested I produce a Title Company Closing Statement from 1967... or more accurately my 83 year old mother produce it.
It all has to do with selling a property two years ago bought by my Dad and Uncle.
Would like to tell them to pound sand... but not sure how constructive that would be.
Took me about an hour to locate the file dad had kept... plus it had documentation cover all the improvements made...
I have every check I have ever written... got my checking account at Bank of America at age 13.
The entire check history fits easily in one shoe box...
I collect cars... and am careful to document what I spend on the restorations... I own 50 vehicles and each has a file.
I have a business, and I save receipts to bill out, and my statements. I use a very basic envelope system, month by month. As much as I can, I run though my credit card, the rest goes through my bank. Those records are downloaded.
I used to keep copious records, and I stopped that nonsense years ago. After we were audited I saw what they really needed.
Keeping tax records is different from keeping credit card statements and bills. When you're audited, they want the actual receipt not credit card statements.
Not true. They need to cross check. They required hard copies of monthly statements of every credit card and bank account so they could match receipts to the actual payments.
Someone says its all online - but it isn't ..not really. Most providers only make 1-2 years available online...like my experience is mostly with Citibank, which I know goes back less than two years. If you wanted prior to that you have to order them, and there's a cutoff for that as well. I think you might be able to get 2-3 years. If it was 3+ years ago its like it didn't happen - I had one provider told me that was all they provided unless it was subpoenaed by the government in which case they'd go to some lengths to retrieve it (basically they don't give much of a crap that its helpful to customers, but if its required by law or useful to the provider, they keep it internally, probably forever).
4 credit card issuers and 2 banks - none of them go back less than 3 years. Not that I have ever needed to go back beyond a year. The more records you keep on file - paper or digital - the greater the odds of someone else getting hold of it. I would rate those odds much higher than some odd reason you might need all those records.
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