Happy Statute of Limitations Week
The statute of limitations on income taxes is generally three years. If you behave badly -- commit fraud or even innocently omit large amounts of income from your tax return -- the period for the IRS to come get you may be longer. But in the usual case, it's three years and out.
The three years generally runs from the April 15 due date for filing the return -- later if you file later. The IRS typically has three years to get the bad news in the mail to you from that date. (If you don't file the return, the statute doesn't even start to run until you rat on yourself.)
And so when the end of April rolls around, if you haven't heard from the revenuers about the fourth year back (in this case, 2001), their chance to audit you for that year has now most likely gone away. Congratulations!
Monday night is garbage night in my neck of the woods, and I just got done with my annual ritual marking the passage of the tax audit year. I shredded all my tax information and other receipts for 2001, and moved my 2001 tax returns to my permanent tax return folder. (It generally pays to keep the returns forever -- you never know when you might be called upon to prove what you made, or paid, or declared. And surprisingly, the IRS doesn't keep such information where you can get it, at least not for long.)
I'm a nerd who keeps every receipt for three years, and although I've outgrown looking at them all as I feed them to the shredder blades, I did have a wistful moment or two tonight. I ground up the receipts from the doctor for my older child's infant checkups and shots. She's 4 now. My first bill from Verizon was in there -- boy, was their coverage lousy -- and a bunch of worthless privacy notices from this bank and that. You could fill up the van with gas for $21. The New York Times daily home delivery ran around $133 a quarter. The Nordstrom bills said that they were "prepared for" me. It was before we refinanced this house. I bought a Joe Tex CD on eBay.
Anyway, here's hoping I didn't jump the gun. I'd hate to find a notice from the IRS in the mailbox, postmarked April 14, after the garbage guys come through and the mailman swings by tomorrow morning.
But I doubt it. Goodbye, residual tax worries of 2001.
Posted at 2:28 AM
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Comments (3)
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Would that there was some, any, statue of limitations longer than 15 seconds for broadcast misrepresentation and/or election results.
Perhaps this is off topic, yet it is on time. Court action is proceeding in discovery of evidence showing Republican-rigged election fraud in Washington state, by a ruling already this week described on KPOJ's Thom Hartmann radio program this morning, (and I didn't catch it all so I can't say WHAT ruling).
This is the link as it was broadcast, and this is some detailed particulars in it.
Whereas, the Washington gubernatorial vote count was a predominating topic in Liars Larson's programming, and whereas he misrepresented the case, and whereas Liars extols this high-quality blog, (because Jack does give good blog), and whereas this evidence which goes to show Liars's misrepresentation of Washington voters' votes as it is posted here serves to ambush his purpose and result in directing his obedient listeners here, and whereas Liars predictably is not going to ever provide his audience with the Washington voting topic again unless they incidentally encounter it where he inadvertently sends them, now therefore I thought to post the information here.
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Posted by Tenskwatawa | April 26, 2005 11:10 AM
I've added some comments about records relating to adjusted basis here.
Posted by Jim Maule | May 2, 2005 12:37 PM
Jim wisely writes on his blog:
But, folks, go easy with the shredder. DON'T SHRED anything that has to do with what you've paid for assets, or to improve those assets, because those amounts become part of adjusted basis, which is used to compute gain or loss when the asset is sold. Likewise, don't shred any information about the value of inherited property when the decedent died, or the donor's adjusted basis in property received by gift. Hang onto those contractor's invoices for the addition built onto the home. Keep all those investment records showing dividends plowed back into the stock through a dividend reinvestment program.
But geez, do you think I have any of that stuff? I wish!
Posted by Jack Bog | May 2, 2005 1:05 PM