Any Accountants or Finance Gurus out there? To settle a long-term argument

[MindyKay]

We have kept every check we have ever written from the very first one as a married couple.  Hubby does not want destroy them, but I think we should.  How long should we be keeping checks (or rather, carbon copies)?   I think I heard that, after 7 years, carbon-copies of checks can be destroyed.

BTW, we've been married over 25 years......this will be one huge shredding party.  Oliver North will have NOTHING on us!!!!

[Jeri]

I am not a guru, but I checked several financial websites.  Opinions vary.  MOST say keep canceled checks 6 months to one year (one said six years, but no one else did), with only a few exceptions, those exceptions being checks associated with line items on income tax returns, or tax payments.  Tax related checks should be kept for a minimum of 7 years, although a few recommend keeping tax related check forever.  Since there is a 7 year statute of limitations on IRS actions, forever seems a bit much to me.  I say anything that is older than 10 years is something you don't need. 

The only other exception is checks written for capital improvements on property.  Since this can affect taxes due when you sell, keep those checks for as long as you own the property, and for seven years after that (again you are covering the IRS statute of limitations).

Think about it for a moment.  Do you really need every check written for the past 25 years?  For most checks, holding onto it after it after it clears the bank, and a year or so after should be sufficient.  I mean, really, will anyone ever need you to produce a check you wrote for groceries or to the beauty salon back in 1982?  I think NOT!

[Dachsmack]

In the past, I think the rule of thumb was to keep checks for at least 3 years for tax purposes (in case you're ever audited). However, most major banks now offer a service where you can order copies of past checks. You can even do this online with ease, so I don't see the need to keep them all. In fact, I stopped keeping checks when I went to online banking a few years ago. I get photo copies with every statement.

[Teresa]

 I was going to say the same thing about the online banking. With it, keeping checks is just about obsolete. Also, with the use of debit cards, we have so few checks to keep at all and the bank no longer returns ours, only copies of them. I would think that because of this new way of Americans doing business, a lot of the parameters on keeping old checks would be changing now.