Scan & retain orginal W-2, 1099-R etc. or not?

[David1980]

I don't keep any paper, everything gets scanned in.

Just make sure you are keeping frequent backups, preferably off-site. "My hard drive died" isn't going to be a valid excuse if you lose all your records that you are required to retain. There's paid services that will install software to automatically do the backups for you to servers over the internet.

[taxea]

I don't keep any paper, everything gets scanned in.

Just make sure you are keeping frequent backups, preferably off-site. "My hard drive died" isn't going to be a valid excuse if you lose all your records that you are required to retain. There's paid services that will install software to automatically do the backups for you to servers over the internet.

That works for the IRS but I keep the originals because the courts want the "best evidence". As usual I'm thinking ahead.