How long to keep paperwork ???

I've just spent hours sorting out all my paperwork & I still haven't finished yet.

Now I'm starting to wonder how much of I actually need to keep so does anyone know long long different documents should be kept ??

i.e bank statement, Tax stuff, utility bills, CC statements etc

Don't want to chuck things in the shredder that I should keep

Thanks

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  • Sea78
    Sea78 Posts: 6,185
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    hmmm...I was never that sure, now I keep things for 6 years!! Utility bills I onl keep for a few months after the account has been closed (I move a lot) and then ditch. I also keep tax stuff as you never know...

    After reading some of the stories on here I will def be keeping all official & money stuff for 6 years.

    Sea xxx
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  • elantan
    elantan Posts: 21,018
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    i got caught with the poll tax years ago had the bailiffs round to do a pinding but thankfully had kept all those reciepts (don't know why) and it saved me that day ...i'd kept them for 4 years ...i think 6 years is a good amount to save certain ones for.. but then how far back can these companies go ? i just don't know sorry
  • amosworks
    amosworks Posts: 1,831 Forumite
    2 decades to be on the safe side
  • tanith
    tanith Posts: 8,091
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    If I kept all my paperwork for this long I would need another house to keep it all in.... :rotfl:
    #6 of the SKI-ers Club :j

    "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke
  • amosworks
    amosworks Posts: 1,831 Forumite
    I have several R-Kive boxes in the loft, it makes it easier
  • bluezone
    bluezone Posts: 772
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    how sad am I - I've got all my bank statements from the year dot cos thats when I wasn't in the DR state!

    CC statements I keep for approx a year unless I have bought something with a warranty etc
    😁
  • As far as I know, you should keep your paperwork for seven years, and then shred it (so the tax man can't see the dodgy deals you have not been doing). Seven years being the time the Inland Revenue recommend.

    A case in point at the moment is our neighbour who is fighting with Thames Water because (stay with me here) a resident of the flat she used to live in gave her name to Thames Water and then never paid the bill.

    Thames Water saw that she'd lived there before, and BACKDATED the new account (opened fraudulantly) to when she first moved in (1998). They now claims she owes £1600! :eek:

    And the first she heard of it is when the debt collectors came round... Thames Water now want to see proof that she has paid. As she threw away the bills, she doesn't even know her old account number!

    The moral of the story: Keep those bills!
  • 123xyz
    123xyz Posts: 436
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    AlexWright wrote:
    "As far as I know, you should keep your paperwork for seven years, and then shred it (so the tax man can't see the dodgy deals you have not been doing). Seven years being the time the Inland Revenue recommend."

    Actually Amosworks is correct in the 2 decades as far as Inland Revenue is concerned.

    We have just been advised by our accountants that following an investigation into last year's tax records (ha, ha they found nothing wrong as we are honest people) the Inland Revenue are now requesting 20 years of bookwork, WHICH THEY ARE ENTITLED TO DO! Accountants have put in a plea for 6 years but this depends on the goodwill of the tax office.

    It seems that if they cannot find you have done anything wrong, they will keep on trying, like a dog with a bone.
    Just off the border of your waking mind, there lies another time ....
  • Annie_Fanny
    Annie_Fanny Posts: 1,167 Forumite
    Sea78 wrote:
    hmmm...I was never that sure, now I keep things for 6 years!! Utility bills I onl keep for a few months after the account has been closed (I move a lot) and then ditch. I also keep tax stuff as you never know...

    After reading some of the stories on here I will def be keeping all official & money stuff for 6 years.

    Sea xxx

    Sea - I would keep utility bills for much much longer. I was contacted by a DCA two years after I had moved out of a property. They wanted a sum of money presumably because the people who had moved in after me hadn't registered or paid the electricity bill. Thankfully I had evidence that we had paid as I had kept SOME of the paperwork. I now keep everything!
    "Debt makes plans for you" - A quote from my friend Catherine. How true!
  • kathfisch
    kathfisch Posts: 3,042 Forumite
    Oh definitely keep everything for as long as you have the space to store it :o:p

    I remember a few years back, my mum needing to find evidence of her earnings going back 4 or 5 years (during which she's had times of working, some part time work etc and taxman got it all muddled :rotfl: ). Thankfully my dad is a hoarder and likes everything organised - 5 mins later he reappeared with all her payslips :T :rotfl:

    At one point I opted to have my bank statements online only from HSBC but I'm reconsidering now because you never know when you might need proof in cold hard print! Am now struggling to prove address because online statements don't count, grrr! :mad:

    Sorry, waffling...... :o
    Don't stress, relax, let life roll off your backs. Except for death and paying taxes, everything in life is only for now... Avenue Q
    Official DFW Nerd Club - Member no. 003 :DProud to have become debt free... and striving to keep it that way
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