Old IRA statements: What should I keep?

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novicemoney
Posts: 380
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:36 am

Old IRA statements: What should I keep?

Post by novicemoney »

We are in the process of consolidating all our various IRA accounts with Vanguard. Consequently my equity money will be in taxable accounts with the existing IRA equity money moved over to FI funds. My question is what do with the old statements. I can see keeping taxable statements to help confirm cost basis when selling, but since this is not a concern with tax deferred money is there any reason to keep old statements?
dolphinsaremammals
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Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:18 pm

Re: Old IRA statements: What should I keep?

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

Here's what the IRS says:

What Records Must I Keep?

To verify the nontaxable part of distributions from your IRAs, including Roth IRAs, keep a copy of the following forms and records until all distributions are made.

Page 1 of Forms 1040 (or Forms 1040A, 1040NR, or 1040-T) filed for each year you made a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA.

Forms 8606 and any supporting statements, attachments, and worksheets for all applicable years.

Forms 5498, IRA Contribution Information, or similar statements you received each year showing contributions you made to a traditional IRA or Roth IRA.

Forms 5498 or similar statements you received showing the value of your traditional IRAs for each year you received a distribution.

Forms 1099-R or W-2P you received for each year you received a distribution.
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siamond
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Re: Old IRA statements: What should I keep?

Post by siamond »

What is the harm in keeping your old statements? You never know when it will come handy. If the amount of paper bothers you, then just scan them... A few months ago, I had the itch of doing some analysis of my year-over-year returns and I was very happy to find detailed historical information.

In the specific case of IRA statements, you definitely should keep them. One day or another, you may want to explore a roll-over to Roth-IRAs, and then you'll need your cost basis, which implies to know all your contributions, and which ones were deductible and which ones were not.
dolphinsaremammals
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Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:18 pm

Re: Old IRA statements: What should I keep?

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

siamond wrote: In the specific case of IRA statements, you definitely should keep them. One day or another, you may want to explore a roll-over to Roth-IRAs, and then you'll need your cost basis, which implies to know all your contributions, and which ones were deductible and which ones were not.


Without looking this up to check, I think you only need to know the 8606 total basis, yes? Aren't all traditional IRAs one big lump as far as the IRS is concerned? So this is a one time initial calculation then carried through each subsequent year's 8606.

Update: I'm wrong of course, if someone is adding to their IRAs other than by conversions to a Roth.
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Bustoff
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Re: Old IRA statements: What should I keep?

Post by Bustoff »

I recently asked the same question in another thread. Vanguard site only displays the current and prior years IRA contributions.
However, if you go to your specific Roth or Traditional IRA account holding you can search farther back under the transactions section.

The irritating thing is Vanguard does not list "Contributions" as one of the transactions types -- thus, you have to sift through all the transactions hunting for your contributions. :annoyed
kaneohe
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Re: Old IRA statements: What should I keep?

Post by kaneohe »

not sure about VG but some fund companies have a consolidated annual statement that might enable dumping Q1,2,3 so at least some savings there.
Topic Author
novicemoney
Posts: 380
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:36 am

Re: Old IRA statements: What should I keep?

Post by novicemoney »

dolphinsaremammals wrote:Here's what the IRS says:

What Records Must I Keep?

To verify the nontaxable part of distributions from your IRAs, including Roth IRAs, keep a copy of the following forms and records until all distributions are made.

Page 1 of Forms 1040 (or Forms 1040A, 1040NR, or 1040-T) filed for each year you made a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA.

Forms 8606 and any supporting statements, attachments, and worksheets for all applicable years.

Forms 5498, IRA Contribution Information, or similar statements you received each year showing contributions you made to a traditional IRA or Roth IRA.

Forms 5498 or similar statements you received showing the value of your traditional IRAs for each year you received a distribution.

Forms 1099-R or W-2P you received for each year you received a distribution.
Thanks for responding all. We have all IRA's in traditional. No nondeductible. At age 55 and 56 the math seems to rule out backdoor Roths. Any new IRA money goes into Roths. Anything left over goes into taxable. Just trying to cut out paper, but there is a little nagging voice saying, "just in case..."
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