How long do you keep your logbooks?

If you plan on taking the IRS daily per diem deduction you may need your logs to prove that you were out of town. I have log books that go back at least 10-20 years. The IRS can audit you and unless you can document being out of town, you could pay more taxes. They can to back for 7 years and if they find something can go back an additional 6 years, as I recall. Your logs are also a means of proving you worked in this industry should your carrier go out of business. It might help you find another job.

 

I keep mine 6 months thats it. Where are you guys finding these years for irs audits i have had one and was told only need 5 years worth of documents by the irs so thats all i keep.

 

I trained at H & R block in the 80's. Unless it has changed, the usual audit period is the 3 years prior but they can go back 7 years if they want. I still prepare my own and family members taxes. One thing to keep in mind, last I knew, they were 2 years behind on audits. I keep all my stuff for 20 years. I would recommend at least 9 -10 years minimum. I don't see how you could survive an audit without at least 5 years of records. If you can't prove you were on the road, the Per Diem deduction will not be allowed. You will need logbooks, computer records or company records to prove this. I would never allow my fate to be in the hands of a company or computer records.

 

What are Log Books?



Just kidding

 

there "can be" another reason for keeping them, and that is for proof of miles driven over time. if an employer of yours goes belly up, and you need proof of your driving, then at least you got'em...then too, YOU can keep track of your miles, and when you hit 1 million you got proof you did it.

i kept mine for nearly 10 years, then i chucked them. in retrospect, i wished i still had them.

 

"Generally" does not mean "absolutely". Tax advice should come from a competent professional or reading of the tax act.

 

3 years for me to prove road time.......

 

I'll just say, use your own judgement. Me? after use to file taxes, it's shredderville. I have an uncle, that went by the book to the "T", kept every book he ever made an entry. The DOT came to audit him personally, and he's never been more then a company driver. When all was said and done, he had to sell the house he and my aunt just paid off the year before, due to $30,000 dollars of log fines they compiled on him, some from books decades old. The excuse the auditors gave my uncle in court was this. "If you have it laying around, and available to view, it's fair game, sorry about your luck."

So, I'll say again. Use your own judgement.
Good luck.