Bank statements are one of those significant yet not-so-frequently used financial documents that you don’t know how long to keep. Your bank statement is an important prerequisite for many official processes, but you cannot stick with it for a lifetime.
Here is, exactly, how long you need to take care of your bank statements.
Why Should You Keep Your Bank Statement?
Along with the positive impacts of growing technology, hacking and security breaches have also become very common. Nowadays, every digital platform is prone to such security breaches. In 2019, 98000 customers of Westpac Australian bank got their data breached. So, if you are using a bank for storing your assets, make sure you are playing your part for its safety.
What you can do on your part is get a hold of the bank statement. It can save you from scammers and identity thefts. You can either download your bank statement or have it printed out as you feel comfortable.
Bank statements are also an easy way of keeping track of your income. You can use it as a verification of your income. And you can also keep an eye on where you are spending your money.
The only other way of keeping track of your expenses is to collect all the receipts, which can be onerous. So, it is better to get a bank statement instead.
How Long Should You Keep Your Bank Statement and Financial Documents?
For bank statements, you should keep them for one year. After that, you can dispose of them if they seem a burden to your financial documents. However, if your taxes related to that bank statement are due, you should keep them until the tax is paid.
For your tax documents, make sure you keep them long enough to clear any audit that has been filed by the IRS. Keeping them until seven years is a safe option.
As far as bills and mortgage papers are concerned, keep them until they are paid. Once their payment is done, you can get rid of them.
Use Blomp to Store your e-Statements
You must have got an idea about how long you should keep your financial documents. Discard the documents that you think are of no use in the future. Keep the ones that are significant for taxes, loan payments, or any such processes.
An efficient way of storing e-files of your bank statements is credible cloud storage platforms, such as Blomp.