Bank statement question

Marvqn1

When a bank statement includes an annual interest summary, it says 'Important document - Do not destroy'. How long do I need to keep the letter before throwing it away? Does it need to be kept longer than the latest tax year?

Brie

Tax records need to be kept for 7 years I believe but sometimes you end up with duplicate info in different formats.  So maybe you don't need the summary if you are keeping bank statements?  And as far as I'm aware you are fine if you have them scanned and saved to a file somewhere you can access.  

wmb194

Marvqn1 said:

When a bank statement includes an annual interest summary, it says 'Important document - Do not destroy'. How long do I need to keep the letter before throwing it away? Does it need to be kept longer than the latest tax year?

Assuming it covers a tax year and not a calendar year as I've seen with some (Virgin?), in theory IIRC it's six years but in practice these data are transmitted directly to HMRC and the odds of it ever asking you for evidence are incredibly small. I don't keep them but an alternative option would be to scan/photograph it and keep an electronic copy.

eskbanker

https://www.gov.uk/keeping-your-pay-tax-records/how-long-to-keep-your-records highlights that (for those who self-assess) there's no need to retain records for anything like six or seven years....

GeoffTF

Nonetheless, I was told by a tax adviser that HMRC can go back 6 years if they find an issue. Capital gains tax records have to be kept back to the earliest asset purchase that is still relevant. In the case of interest statements, as has been said, HMRC will have the returns from the banks.