Short answer: keep the records of what you paid for your home, meaning the closing papers from the purchase and the receipts for every improvement, for as long as you own the home, and then until 3 years after the due date of your tax return for the year you sell it. That's the IRS's own wording in Publication 523. Keep the deed while you own the home, as a paper original.
The reason is a single number: your home's basis, roughly what you paid for it plus what you put into it. It's the starting point for figuring your gain when you sell, and the IRS says your records "should show the purchase price, settlement or closing costs, and the cost of any improvements." Lose the receipts for the new roof and you may not be able to prove what it added. For every other kind of document, the master retention chart has the quick answer.
Home records at a glance
| Document | Keep for | Why / source |
|---|---|---|
| Closing Disclosure or settlement statement from the purchase | While you own the home, then 3 years past the due date of the return for the year of sale | Shows purchase price and closing costs (Publication 523, CFPB) |
| Deed | While you own the home, as a paper original | FTC: keep while you own |
| Improvement receipts, invoices and contracts | Same as the purchase closing papers | Publication 523: improvements add to your basis |
| Sale closing statement | Until 3 years after the due date of the return for the year of sale | FTC: home-sale records, at least three years |
| Home office records, if you claimed one | As long as your basis records | Publication 587: records of purchase price and improvements |
| Records for a home you received as a gift | While you own it, including the date you received it | Publication 523 |
| Ordinary repair receipts | While a warranty or dispute could come up (practice) | Upkeep often isn't an improvement; check Publication 523 |
This is what's generally true for federal taxes in the US. It isn't tax advice, and state rules can run longer, so check the IRS publication or a tax professional before shredding anything with real money attached.
Why the IRS cares what you paid for your house
When you sell, the tax question is how much you gained, and that depends on your basis. Publication 551 puts it plainly: you must keep accurate records of all items that affect the basis of property so you can make these computations. A higher documented basis means a smaller gain on paper.
Whether your sale ends up taxable at all depends on rules in Publication 523 that are beyond this page. The point here is simpler: you won't know until you sell, and by then the paperwork has to already exist. Nobody can reconstruct a 2014 kitchen invoice in 2034.
What counts as an improvement
Publication 523's definition: "Improvements add to the value of your home, prolong its useful life, or adapt it to new uses. You add the cost of additions and improvements to the basis of your property." A new roof, an added bathroom or a finished basement sound like they fit that test. Repainting the hallway or fixing a dripping tap sounds more like upkeep. The publication has a list of examples, and it's worth a look before you decide what to keep.
When in doubt, keep the receipt. A scan costs nothing, and the wrong guess in the other direction leaves you with an improvement you can't prove later.
The clock starts when you sell, not when you buy
Here's how the timing plays out. Say you buy in 2012, replace the roof in 2019 and sell in 2027. The return for 2027 is due in 2028, so the purchase papers, the roof invoice and the sale statement all stay until three years after that due date, into 2031. That's nineteen years for the closing papers, which is why "seven years" is the wrong rule for anything to do with a house.
Three years is the baseline. The IRS's general rules have longer windows for some situations, such as six years if you left out income worth more than 25% of the gross income on your return, and those apply to home records too. The guide to how long to keep tax returns walks through each window.
The deed and the closing papers
The deed is the one document here where the paper itself matters, so keep the original somewhere safe at home and a scan for reference. The title deed entry explains the difference between the deed, which is the paper, and title, which is the ownership itself.
From the closing, the CFPB says to save "the whole stack or electronic file" and to make sure you have four key documents: the Closing Disclosure, the promissory note, the mortgage or deed of trust, and the deed. It also notes the Closing Disclosure "may also be helpful for tax purposes when you sell your home." The loan side of that stack, including what to keep when you pay the mortgage off, has its own guide to how long to keep mortgage and loan documents.
Where to keep home records
The manual way on iPhone. Open the Files app, tap the More button, tap Scan Documents, and hold each page in view of the camera; when you're done, choose a location and tap Save. Make a folder for the house with two inside it, "Purchase" and "Improvements," and scan every contractor invoice the week it's paid. The IRS says the requirements for paper records also apply to electronic storage systems, so a clear scan does the job for receipts.
The less manual way. Paperlock reads each receipt and invoice as you save it, picks out who it's from, the date and the amount, and files it behind Face ID with no folders to name. Years later, at the closing table, "how much did we spend on the roof?" comes back with the invoice attached.
Whichever way you go, the habit is the same: every dollar you put into the house gets a receipt in the file, and the file stays until three years after the sale's tax return is due.