Important Documents: What You Should Be Shredding 

Storing important documents and information in a safe place is common knowledge in a day where identity theft is becoming increasingly more prevalent. The average person can store anywhere between 4-20 of these documents in their homes and what is really necessary to hold onto? The more information with personal insights, the larger your risk of potential identity theft. Here are a few documents and how long they should be kept.

• Tax Returns: It is recommended to keep your tax returns for seven years in which this amount of time should get you through common auditing checkpoints.
• Paycheck Stubs: Although many payment forms are now electronic, if you are someone who is holding onto to old pay stubs from 4 years ago, you can safely destroy them. Pay stubs should only have a shelf life of one year with the purpose of matching to your W-2 form and then have them securely destroyed.
• Utility Bills: You need to hold onto these only if you intend to use them for tax deduction purposes.

Some Important Documents You Should Hold Onto

• Vehicle title
• Deed to your home
• Any burial deeds, plots or death certificates
• Wills, trusts, living wills, any healthcare proxies
• Social security cards
• Birth certificates

PROSHRED^® Milwaukee is dedicated to best practices for keeping your information secure. Review our full list of services to see how we can keep your information secure today.