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Soapweed

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northern Nebraska Sandhills
How long should old records and ranch receipts be kept. My dear wife thinks we should dispose of some of these, and I told her not to do it until I checked with all of you. :wink: Your opinions are important. :)
 
I was told for tax purposes it is 5 years. I dumped this past winter and many times I wished I hadn't. There are things I know got dumped that I really needed this year. I'll never do it again.
 
Soapweed, I remembered seeing something about this in Progressive Farmer this month. It as a side bar on page 8 (December issue)

Basically it was saying that a normal tax return filed on time can be audited up to three years after the date of filing. If there was a large understatement of income then the statute of limitations (auditable period) is extended to 6 years.

Employment tax records should be kept at least 4 years.

If for any reason you file an incorrect return or do not file, keep those records indefinitely.

Keep records on bad debt for seven years.

But I get the feeling if the missus is suggesting a heave ho then you've probably got some stuff older than any of the above. Being a packrat myself, I know how it is.
 
This is the prime example of tyranny, keeping records in case our tyrannical government needs to see them. Is this completely the opposite direction that our country was founded on or what? Sorry, I couldn't resist.
 
Denny said:
I've heard 3 years but we keep them 7 years.
Click to expand...

Yep same here...Really didn't care until my over efficient wife started throwing out all my 20-30 year old Playboys and Rodeo Sports/RCA/IPRA News papers.... :roll:
 
I haven't thrown any away in the 20+ years of ranching. Don't plan on it either. I like to look at old receipts and see, not only what things cost, but what was bought. 8)
 
The IRS publishes guidelines which are available from their website.

If your records are organized and filed logically, they don't take up much room. I have all my tax returns back to 1958 and all of the accounting records from the 20 years we were ranching. All of them don't take up a whole file cabinet.

You need to be able to prove what you paid for property in the year you sell it, so land records are important.

I have a degree in accounting and was Manager of Tax compliance for one of the largest companies in the country when I retired. Of course, they had mountains of paper.

You need to know that the normal statue of limitations is mentioned above, but if you cheat, the statute never runs out.

Herd records, FSA stuff, etc. don't normally affect your taxes so no one really cares except you.

feeder is right though. If you throw somethjing away that you need later, it is a real pain.

I did get Audited a couple of years ago(they came to the house). I told them to take whatever they wanted as long as they brought it back. They fooled around with it for a couple of weeks, assessed me some $841 and showed me how to get that and more back the following year.

You can do it two ways - keep good records and audit trails or- and they don't like this - just throw everything in a box and give it to them. They don't understand agriculture and don't want anything time-consuming since they have to show results.
 
Thank you, everyone. We are at a stalemate so far. :roll: :? :wink: :) She says, "throw." I say, "No go." It might be me that gets the heave ho. Hope Archimedes has some extra room in his doghouse. :(

I did look at our real estate taxes from the year 2000. The taxes just nine years later, 2009, in the state of Nebraska are from 160% to 172% higher than they were back in 2000. Calf prices this year are virtually the same as they were in 2000. No wonder it is hard to make a living in this business. :?
 
Too funny-cowboy up princess take a walk down memory lane-I have the whole receipt for materials for our big barn built in '37.I still think it's interesting stuff.
 
Honestly....I'd keep the main portion of the tax return, but not all of the receipts. Just for the simple fact that I've found some of my grandparents tax returns and other old papers and they were very interesting. Someday those papers may be very interesting to your grandkids.

I have a couple Auction notices of when my grandparents moved. They sold everything.....and it's all listed........kinda sad..but still kinda neat in a way knowing that when they got where they were goin they had to buy all new stuff.
 
I will have to ask my wife when she wakes up in the morning. She keeps up with these things. She also dose taxes for a few people around here.
 

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