Once your return is filed, the paper doesn’t have to live forever. Here’s a practical retention schedule for small businesses.
Keep for at least three years
Receipts, invoices and bank statements that support your return. The IRS generally has three years to audit a filed return.
Keep for seven years
Records that support bad-debt deductions or losses from worthless securities, and anything tied to a return where income may have been under-reported.
Keep indefinitely
Filed returns themselves, formation documents, and records for property and equipment until you sell them — you’ll need the cost basis.
