How long do I need to keep documents?
Discussion
As I am stuck at home, I started to tidy the years of paper work I have been ignoring for... well years. I have some things going back decades!
So how long am I supposed to keep bank/savings/investment statements?
I called HMRC a while ago and a very unhelpful person told me they can ask for anything, ever! I rang a few banks, they said they only have records for about 7 years, which would be a bit of an obstacle.
I appreciate that as an honest soul, I have little to worry about, but if I was asked to prove this, the banks charge a few quid a statement,..
So how long do you keep them?
What should I be keeping?
So how long am I supposed to keep bank/savings/investment statements?
I called HMRC a while ago and a very unhelpful person told me they can ask for anything, ever! I rang a few banks, they said they only have records for about 7 years, which would be a bit of an obstacle.
I appreciate that as an honest soul, I have little to worry about, but if I was asked to prove this, the banks charge a few quid a statement,..
So how long do you keep them?
What should I be keeping?
I obsessively keep everything, but can't necessarily find it. I don't like on-line statements, I prefer to have proper printed ones.
I just had to do a SA check for 2017-2018 tax year, so only one year back and, at the time, it was the latest return I'd completed. Turns out that some banks have switched me on to on-line statements without asking, or they've done that "tick the box if you don't want to not have printed statements not posted to you" thing, and I hadn't got printed statements for one or two accounts. More than that, when I signed in to the online banking, in some cases I couldn't get a printed statement as it was more than 12 months ago.
Fortunately the person doing the check accepted the screen-shots, probably as the interested earned was only pennies, but it doesn't encourage me to switch more to paperless.
I reckon I'll get around to starting tidying up all my paperwork a day or two before the pubs open again, and won't have time to do it.
I just had to do a SA check for 2017-2018 tax year, so only one year back and, at the time, it was the latest return I'd completed. Turns out that some banks have switched me on to on-line statements without asking, or they've done that "tick the box if you don't want to not have printed statements not posted to you" thing, and I hadn't got printed statements for one or two accounts. More than that, when I signed in to the online banking, in some cases I couldn't get a printed statement as it was more than 12 months ago.
Fortunately the person doing the check accepted the screen-shots, probably as the interested earned was only pennies, but it doesn't encourage me to switch more to paperless.
I reckon I'll get around to starting tidying up all my paperwork a day or two before the pubs open again, and won't have time to do it.
You don't need to keep personal records for more than a couple of years, really.
https://www.gov.uk/keeping-your-pay-tax-records/ho...
Stuff related to tax returns I tdo end to keep for six years. (Tax certificates, investments, etc - basically anything that backs up entries in my tax return)
I don't keep personal bank/credit card statements more than a couple.of years.
If you're concerned on missing out on PPI claims etc you might want to keep some records for longer.
https://www.gov.uk/keeping-your-pay-tax-records/ho...
Stuff related to tax returns I tdo end to keep for six years. (Tax certificates, investments, etc - basically anything that backs up entries in my tax return)
I don't keep personal bank/credit card statements more than a couple.of years.
If you're concerned on missing out on PPI claims etc you might want to keep some records for longer.
I think the answer will be 'it depends' on your individual financial circumstances/type of work/tax implications etc
Personally I am fully PAYE and don't have my own business or ltd co for example. So I actually got rid of a huge chunk of old paper statements as it was just getting too much in terms of space being taken up...I had around 15 yrs worth of statements .it was just ridiculous and getting rid of it (securely I may add) did wonders for removing the mental stress of seeing the mess and disorganisation it create having so much 'stuff' lying around. If I ever need to produce anything for HMRC will ask my bank to help get the statements etc I only retain physical documents for key letters / tax / student loan notifications and that type of thing in addition to legal docs, property deeds etc
Personally I am fully PAYE and don't have my own business or ltd co for example. So I actually got rid of a huge chunk of old paper statements as it was just getting too much in terms of space being taken up...I had around 15 yrs worth of statements .it was just ridiculous and getting rid of it (securely I may add) did wonders for removing the mental stress of seeing the mess and disorganisation it create having so much 'stuff' lying around. If I ever need to produce anything for HMRC will ask my bank to help get the statements etc I only retain physical documents for key letters / tax / student loan notifications and that type of thing in addition to legal docs, property deeds etc
The general rule is six years - although there are variations on this depending on your circumstances.
If you are a person who completes Self Assessment tax returns, then the six year rule will apply. However, how you count the six years is not as straightforward as you might think.
The last tax return submitted by anybody will have been the 2018/19 tax return. That covers the year ended 5 April 2019. The filing deadline for that return was 31 January 2020. So the six year period starts running from 1 February 2020 and ends on 31 January 2026. So you can start getting rid of relevant 2018/19 tax return paperwork on 1 February 2026.
What paperwork would that be? Well, anything that supports information included on the 2018/19 tax return. For most people that would mean documents dated between 6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019.
However, if you are (say) a sole trader with a financial year end of 30 June 2018, you would need to keep all the underlying accounting records going back to the beginning of that financial year i.e. 1 July 2017.
In that case, you would be hanging on to old records which are quite a bit older than just six years. In fact, HMRC says that you should hang on forever to the more fundamental stuff such as sets of accounts or bank statements. The good news is that they don't have to be retained in paper form and can be stored electronically - so they won't be cluttering up files or cabinets.
If you are a person who completes Self Assessment tax returns, then the six year rule will apply. However, how you count the six years is not as straightforward as you might think.
The last tax return submitted by anybody will have been the 2018/19 tax return. That covers the year ended 5 April 2019. The filing deadline for that return was 31 January 2020. So the six year period starts running from 1 February 2020 and ends on 31 January 2026. So you can start getting rid of relevant 2018/19 tax return paperwork on 1 February 2026.
What paperwork would that be? Well, anything that supports information included on the 2018/19 tax return. For most people that would mean documents dated between 6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019.
However, if you are (say) a sole trader with a financial year end of 30 June 2018, you would need to keep all the underlying accounting records going back to the beginning of that financial year i.e. 1 July 2017.
In that case, you would be hanging on to old records which are quite a bit older than just six years. In fact, HMRC says that you should hang on forever to the more fundamental stuff such as sets of accounts or bank statements. The good news is that they don't have to be retained in paper form and can be stored electronically - so they won't be cluttering up files or cabinets.
Eric Mc said:
how you count the six years is not as straightforward as you might think.
Making 7 years a nice, easy rule of thumb.Someone above said HMRC can go back as far as they like, which is correct, but only if they are pursuing fraud.
Eric - how often do you see HMRC ask for stuff more than 2 returns old? I'm aware most tax returns are processed as presented by the taxpayer, with a process of "random" selection of a small percentage of returns for inspection and possible follow-up questions. In my own experience such questions have only related to the latest return filed.
Until the advent of Self Assessment, it wasn't unusual for the Inland Revenue (as was) to open enquiries into periods greater than one year.
Since Self Assessment started in 1995, the Revenue has more or less lost the ability to investigate the way they used to.
This is one of the reason why HMRC had an abortive attempt to abolish self assessment a couple of years ago.
Since Self Assessment started in 1995, the Revenue has more or less lost the ability to investigate the way they used to.
This is one of the reason why HMRC had an abortive attempt to abolish self assessment a couple of years ago.
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