Ok you all going to say what the hell are you worrying about, well thats what the OH is saying

But I have always kept the bank statements, I`m sure a lot of you do too. But the question is do I need to take them with us to Canada, if so how far back do you think I need to go....

I would suggest that you keep your statements, the UK tax people can go back 7 years (I think) and Canada can go back 6 years.

You could be liable for a UK audit, but whether they would bother if you are in Canada I don't know. I know the UK will not consider that you have left their jurisdiction until you have been out of the country for 12 months.

Just to be on the safe side I'd keep them.

But I am no tax expert.

I would (did) ship them all because I'm like that.

It may turn out to be a good idea to take at least the last 3 months worth with you in your hand baggage for credit reasons. For example, if you want to lease a car they are likely to ask you for copies of recent statements, this happened to me.

Ian.

Thanks both of you, good idea about the 3 months worth of statements.

You can print 3 months statements from your on line acount, if you keep your uk account open. However we were asked for 2 years statements when we applied for a mortgage, so that they could establish a viewaable credit history. We couldn't provide this, while it did not directly effect our mortgage, it did slow the whole process down and give us a few scary moments, 3 times it was approved and 3 times taken away, as we had no proff of history.

I scanned alot of these documents (bank statements, credit card statements etc) and then I could carry the discs and shred the original documents