[taylwha66]

Please advise how long do I have to retain tax returns for the State i.e. Georgia, and for the Federal Government filings?

[smoothy]

I like to keep them all in a briefcase... BUt you can keep them in any suitible place that's easy to find them. You might have to refer back to them years from now... they say a minimum of 5 years... I think 10 is way smarter to keep them... they don't take up that much space.

[ebaines]

Absolute minimum is three years - that's how long the government has to challenge the typical tax return. But if you significantly under-report your income (by 25% or more) they have 6 years, and if charged with tax fraud there is no statute of limitations. I've kept copies of all my returns, but after 7 years I do get rid of old supporting documents like charity receipts, and 1099 forms. In the old days you could deduct sales tax if you had receipts, and the pile of receipts each year would fill a small paper bag. Those I long ago discarded.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

I tell my clients to keep the tax returns FOREVER, and let their heirs destroy them. Through take up very little room and can provide information that sometimes is needed 20 years after the fact.

[ScottGem]

I'll add here that with computers, its not hard to get your tax return (even supporting docs) in a PDF, so storage should not be a problem.