Old paperwork?

royP_2

How long should you keep old bank account records?

unrecordings

My accountant once told me for HMRC purposes 5 years & 10 months after the end of the tax year for personal accounts, 6 years after the end of the tax year for limited company accounts. Then I just shred them. Most of it has been in electronic form for the last decade or so - so there's very little actual paper that isn't held electronically elsewhere.
I'd be interested in other views on this too

mgdavid

I try to keep records for 10 years; details of the bank, account type, dates open and closed etc on a spreadsheet, and then electronic copies of statements, all backed up off the PC. Not a lot of space or effort compared to the hassle it could save if reading some of the stories on here is anything to go by.

EachPenny

royP wrote: »

How long should you keep old bank account records?

I put stuff into ringbinders or lever arch files, and store them on a shelf. When the file gets full I'll look at what can be thrown away, likewise when the shelf gets full.

Standard stuff banking stuff I would never throw away until it is at least 6 years old, more important stuff not for 10.

The bottom line is a lever arch file takes up no more space when it is full than when it is empty, so no point taking stuff out when it reaches an arbitrary age just in order to have more empty space in a file.

That advice would of course need to be varied according to individual people's filing methods.

And by 'throw away' I do of course mean shred.

No_6

don't keep any,,,,,,, most is available online !
I am not super rich, so won't be fined for holding any thing BACK

you keep 10 years ? what are you laundering into ?

all records on my MS Money file.....with password pro

robatwork

So this comes up every few months on here.
The answers are everything from 3 years, 6 years, 10 years, scan everything in and keep as pdf.

Martin himself recommends "forever", which would certainly have helped some people prove they had PPI back in the 80s for example.

So the answer is there's no right answer. Forever can't be the wrong answer though, but could be a space hog.