How long should you keep bank statements etc for?

[artyanklet]

I am having a major paperwork clear out - how long should I keep my bank statements etc for? I seem to have years of them but am v wary of getting rid, just in case ......

Thanks

Oh and how do you store them? I have just been stuffing them in a drawer and it has taken me hours sorting through them as everything is jumbled. I am trying to get organised!

Tbh I don't keep mine because you can get copies from your bank up to 6 years.

If you're buying a house or anything which might need bank statements, whatever they might need. Probably 6-12 months.

I don't know now if tax credits and stuff like that needs to have bank statements to do a check, so check on that.

But if, like me, you're not doing anything like that, I don't have any, its all online.

financialwizard I knew you could get them from your bank but didn't know if you had to pay for copies, are they free.

Okay, I think I will keep 1 years worth of stuff then! Its ridiculous here, I have kept bank statements since 2006! Will have a good shredding session.

Six years ideally. Yes you can get them from the bank (although sometimes easier said than done) and they would usually charge.

I keep mine in a lever arch file on the top of the wardrobe

As a business we're required to keep the last 6 years worth of paperwork. I do the same with all our personal stuff unless it's really important, in which case longer.

6 years!! OH!

6 years is used as HMRC can enquire back that far, so businesses and self-employed people keep them that long - no-one else needs to, and banks can and will recreate them is necessary

I can't imagine any scenario whereby you'd need personal bank statements for 6 years. I don't get bank statements anymore anyway, it's all online, but if I did I'd only keep 6 months.

We don't keep physical paperwork by and large now anyway. We scan it all in using an app on the iphone and keep it electronically.

I keep the current year and previous year, that's it. I never look at the old ones. I bought a house last year, the mortgage company only wanted the most recent bank statements.

When you say you are wary of getting rid of them 'just in case', just in case of what exactly?

The current tax year plus another 6 years. I have faced a scenario where a tax investigation involved a suggestion that cash had been removed from the business and required 6 years of bank statements to prove no change in personnal spending habits.
I have also fought and won with an energy company where they tried to claim a debt three years later and I still had my energy statements and was able to prove them wrong.
Storage one document box for the whole lot, cash saved by exercise runs to over £40,000.

I keep ours for 6 years as DH is a company director.

When they come in they get filed into ring binder so all in order

We have just finished a hmrc investigation. They wanted to see last 5 years bank details. It was triggered when we paid of or mortgage early ... The large amount of being transferred from saving accounts to the mortgage bank.

Both of us are PAYE.

Banks may recreate them for you but they can charge for it. For an estate I dealt with at work recently (probate lawyer) I needed to get the deceased's bank statements for the 12 months prior to death. Yorkshire Bank charged £104.
For inheritance tax purposes executors will generally need bank statements for the 7 years prior to death to prove income and outgoings, as banks only keep records for 6 years getting the 7th year can prove problematical.
And as someone else has pointed out HMRC can investigate going back 6 years as a general rule. But if they suspect fraud or negligence they can go back 20.
DWP can also ask to see bank statements going back to when a claim for benefits was originally made if they suspect fraud. I have been asked for bank statements going back to 2003 for an estate where the deceased had inadvertently overclaimed benefits.
I have all mine going back to 2006.