5 Tax Records Seniors Should NEVER Throw Out

1. Inherited property documents

Have you ever heard about the “stepped-up basis”? This means that once you inherit a property, your tax basis will become equal to the value of the property exactly on the date of the death of the person who left that property to you. It might sound complicated, but in reality, the concept is simple: this tax policy says that once you get this property from the deceased person, it will gain this stepped-up basis. Its basis will change in order to fit the current prices in the market, and this can affect the amount of money you could get if you want to sell the property.

If we are talking about large properties that have a value of more than $12.02 million, you need to know that this value is reported on Form 706 on the federal tax returns. Smaller properties also have to report their value but on state death tax forms. This needs to be done even if there are no federal returns due.

Be sure to keep all of these documents safe in case you will need to demonstrate your basis in the future.