What original documents do I need to keep?

How long should you keep documents?

• Store permanently: tax returns, major financial records.
• Store 3–7 years: supporting tax documentation.
• Store 1 year: regular statements, pay stubs.
• Keep for 1 month: utility bills, deposits and withdrawal records.
• Safeguard your information.
• Guard your financial accounts.

What documents should I keep hard copies of?

Let’s start with the documents you should keep physical copies of forever:

• Birth and death certificates.
• Social security cards.
• Pension plan documents.
• ID cards and passports.
• Green cards.
• Marriage license.
• Business license.

Can we destroy paper originals if we keep scanned electronic copies on file?

Other Legal Obligations and Considerations Otherwise, how long a local government or state agency retains an original after scanning is up to them. In general, we give a soft recommendation of at least 6 months before shredding the paper copies.

What personal records should be kept permanently?

To be on the safe side, McBride says to keep all tax records for at least seven years. Keep forever. Records such as birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, divorce decrees, Social Security cards, and military discharge papers should be kept indefinitely.

Are scanned documents as good as originals UK?

The short answer is that in England, scanned copies of original documents are generally admissible in court proceedings provided their integrity can be shown. There is, therefore, a risk that if the original documents have been lost or disposed of, the authenticity of the PDF versions might be called into question.

Are scanned documents legal?

In other words, scanned copies of original documents are admissible in court proceedings provided their integrity is non-disputable.

Is scanned copy a legal document in India?

As per Section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 any information contained in an electronic record produced by a computer in printed, stored or copied form shall be deemed to be a document and it can be admissible as evidence in any proceeding without further proof of the original.

Do I have to keep paper copies?

You should keep the actual returns forever, but you can get rid of the supporting documents after three years. That’s how long the IRS has to initiate an audit. Once the time elapses, toss the records — and shred any that reveal your Social Security number or other personal information.

Can a company scan a document and keep the original?

Accordingly, employers may scan an entire document bearing a notary’s seal and keep only the original page with the seal and signature or even dispose of the original entirely. Similarly, companies may digitize documents bearing employee signatures, such as employment offers, disciplinary records, and time cards, and toss the originals.

Should you scan or digitally store your records?

In most cases, once you scan records and store them digitally, you can discard them. There’s no need to double your efforts because these records now exist on your company’s computer system or a cloud-based platform.

What should you do with your old paper documents?

All Other Client Documents – Unless it falls into a category mentioned above where it’s required or highly recommended to maintain original paper records, documents like medical records can be scanned into an electronic document management system and old paper copies can be discarded.

What are the advantages of scanning documents?

Scanning documents and making the conversion to a paperless office offers many advantages—namely, the ability to get rid of space-consuming hard-copy records. When documents are scanned and added to electronic document management systems, the original copies become no longer necessary.