You keep your valuables in a safe secure location.

Financial experts say you should have the same care for your financial records.

“Ideally, they should be some place in a fire-protected container in an off-site facility,” said Frank Stephens, a certified public accountant in Wagoner. “You should have a hard copy and a computer copy. I chastise my clients when they don’t have copies of their computer financial records. The computer crashes, and they lose it. I tell them, you should have made a copy of it when you saved it.”

A media release by the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants offers guidelines on how to keep your financial records “in tip-top shape.”

“A person could have an Internal Revenue Service tax audit out of the blue for three years after filing a return,” Stephens said. “The IRS can call you if there is an underestimate of your income or your taxes, and that can go for as long as seven years. If fraud is involved with your tax return, there is no statute of limitations.”

Stephens said most individual taxpayers should keep returns for five years.

“That should cover 99 percent of what is needed,” he said. “Keep copies of tax returns and supporting documents such as 1099 and W-2 forms. I would keep them for seven years.”

The OSCPA recommends keeping tax returns for a minimum of 10 years.

“Supporting documents such as canceled checks and receipts may also come in handy later,” the society press release said.

Stephens said you also should keep tabs on payments made to non-deductible IRA accounts.

He said taxpayers should keep records of assets such as stocks and bonds “in perpetuity.”

“The biggest problem you can have in stocks and bonds is what did you get for that Proctor & Gamble stock you got in 1964. How much did you pay for it?” he said.

The Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants advises throwing out ATM or credit card receipts as soon as you get your account statement showing the transaction. Exceptions would be big-ticket items such as jewelry, electronics, appliances or cars; keep those on hand for insurance claims.

Reach Cathy Spaulding at 918-684-2928 or Click Here to Send Email