How many paychecks do you save keep? (how far back?)

I keep all my pay stubs inside an envelope inside my filing cabinet.

When I worked, I usually saved none. You can generally get a copy from your employer if you need one.

keep. and u should always keep.

Keep them with your tax records, and keep them for as long as you keep your tax records, which is 5 or 7 years I believe. I still have paystubs dating back from my high school years, not really sure why I’m keeping those but they’re still here.

On another note, I’ve never been asked to provide my previous paystubs, nor would I, they might try to match my salary to what I was making before. Maybe it’s simply something that one cannot do in Canada due to legislation.

I used to keep them for years now our employer foes not send them. It’s all direct deposit and stubs are on computer.
While I miss the stub, it sure saves paper, ink, space.

I save every stub.

For credit purposes the last 30 days. For your personal records 2 years is what is suggested by tax preparers etc.

Regarding paycheck stubs specifically…

Taxes: you can keep the last paycheck stub of the year since it summarizes the entire year’s accumulated earnings and withholdings.

Loan Applications or Rental Applications: May need the previous 2 months of statements.

@JohnRobert: The last stub of the year would only work if you are a salaried employee. If you receive bonuses, commissions, or any variable thereof the end of the year stub might not be sufficient.

I save them for a year. After I do my taxes, I toss the previous year’s.

@bythebay: bonuses, commissions, distributions, tips and everything earned that year is required to be on that year’s last stub so that it goes on your W-2. If you receive a bonus in January 2009, even if it was based on sales you made in December 2008, it will then show up on a 2009 stub. It too will be accumulated through the year and be included in 2009’s W-2. IRS cares about the total income. Oh… I see your point now. On the loan application side you might need more stubs so you can average out the highs and lows. Good point.

I save em all. But I may toss some of my really old ones because soon I won’t have room for it all.

I save them for 3 years before I toss them. I heard somewhere that’s how far back IRS goes if you get auditted.