Safeguarding Tax and Financial Records


By Christopher Anderson

The IRS recently published a newswire urging people to safeguard their records. IRS Acting Commissioner, Kevin M. Brown stated, “With forecasts calling for an active Atlantic hurricane season, the IRS encourages taxpayers to protect tax and financial documents that can be hard to replace. " (Newswire dated June 1, 2007)

Actually whether or not you live in a hurricane area, there are many things that can happen to destroy important records. We all think about big natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. But there are other disasters that can affect anyone no matter where you live. They include such things as fires, flooded basements, theft, accidentally throwing things away, etc.

If you happen to get audited, the IRS doesn't particularly care why you no longer have your records and they will go off the records they can gather. The IRS can provide you with W-2 information, income from interest, dividends, stock sales, 1099 information, interest paid on government student loans, and how much mortgage interest you paid to a financial institution. They don't have records of business deductions, donations, dependents, alimony paid, daycare expenses, medical expenses, etc.

There are several ways you can choose to keep your records safe.

1. Paperless Record keeping: With the wide use of computers, internet bank records, W-2 forms, and other documents can easily be downloaded to your computer. Other documents can be scanned in. This can then be saved onto a USB drive as a back up which can be store in a safety deposit box and/or sent to a relative in another city.

2. CD or DVD: Records can be scanned into the computer and burned onto a CD or DVD. Several copies can be made inexpensively and stored in several places.

3. Record Keeping Companies: There are companies that will copy and keep your records in their vaults so that in the case of a disaster they can provide you with a copy.

4. Protective Boxes and Safes: You can purchase fire proof and water proof boxes and small safes to keep valuable records in. They can work well if you don't live in a place were place where a natural disaster will likely take down the entire house.

Other items you may want to document and keep safe are personal records such as birth certificates, social security cards, passports, insurance documents, home closing documents, and investment documents. In large disasters, it is important to be able to prove who you are and that your children belong to you. If your home is destroyed you may need to prove ownership.

There once was a family of eight. One evening the whole family went to the local pool for an evening of swimming and fun. They were gone about two hours and when they arrived home, their home was on fire. The fire department was there and the neighbors had all been frantically trying to find them. The plug on their toaster had shorted out and started the fire. It was a small fire that was quickly contained, but the fire department wouldn't let the family go in until they were sure everything was safe, which took a day. They stood there with nothing but their swimsuits and towels as neighbors ran to their homes to find clothing and diapers so the family could at least get dressed.

When they were finally able to enter their home, the smoke had damaged everything. They spent a week in a hotel until the insurance could make arrangements to find temporary housing, Then came the task of listing all the things that had been destroyed and working with the insurance company to fix their home and replace the contents.

This was a relatively small disaster as disasters go. But it could happen to anyone. In any disaster it is good to have a record of your personal belongings, especially items of greater value. Photographing or video taping the contents of your home can be a great help when filing an insurance claim after a disaster.

Also, if you do not have insurance to cover losses, they can be deducted on your tax returns. Recording what you have, when you purchased it and what you paid for it can also expedite claims. The IRS has a free disaster loss workbook that can help individuals and businesses compile a detailed list of belongings. The IRS publication 584 is for individuals and the publication 584B is for businesses.

Nothing can take away the pain and trauma of a disaster, but being prepared can make the recovery process much easier. Review your emergency plan annually. Make sure records that have been safeguarded are current and up to date. Being prepared takes much of the worry out of life.

Christopher Anderson wants to share his success as a business owner with others who desire to own their own business. He also believes that the economy is stronger with more business owners, and as a result, He is focused on helping business owners succeed. http://www.lonepeakbusiness.com.


More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 403, exiting

More Accounting Information:

Related Articles

Accounting Outsourcing Services - Get Focused On Highly Profitable Ventures
Business owners of booming business organizations know that in order to make their business successful, a great deal of time, endeavor and wherewithal needed to accomplish all day to day tasks. Every task from marketing and sales to financial record keeping must go well as each section is essential for success of business.
QuickBooks - Invoices vs Sales Receipts - What's the Difference?
Invoices and Sales Receipts do not serve the same function in QuickBooks. Learn how to decide which is right for your business.
Small Business Accounting Software
Your business, no matter how small, needs an effective accounting management system to sustain its day-to-day viability and establish its long-term financial goals. But when you are already multitasking as the CEO, the manager, and the salesman, you don?t really have time to be an accountant too, do you? Yes, actually, you do.
Best Business Accounting Software
When talking about the best business accounting software, you must first know the relationship between finance and accounting. Conceptually speaking, they are closely related to the extent that accounting is an important input in financial decision making and there are key differences in viewpoints between them. Accounting is a necessary input into finance. That is, accounting is a sub-function of finance.
Shared Electronic Medical Billing Knowledge Base For Improved Control, Compliance, And Performance
A new industry of high-technology medical billing has mushroomed under the auspices of its promise to streamline the collections process and leave doctors with more time to care for their patients. Though many high-quality services and systems exist, an overwhelming variety of options and attractive (yet unsubstantiated) performance claims from some providers have charmed busy doctors into making poor strategic decisions for their practices. Collaborative billing knowledge base improves medical practice profitability and compliance.
Small Business Accounting Software Reviews
Small business accounting software reviews mainly focus on contents of profit and loss account. It is also known by several other titles such as income statement, statement of earnings, statement of operations and profit and loss statement. While the balance sheet, as a stock/position statement, reveals the financial condition of a business at a particular point of time, the profit and loss account portrays, as a flow statement, the operations over/during a particular period of time. The period of time is an accounting period.
Free Small Business Accounting Software
Free small business accounting software primarily focuses on assets. Assets may be described as valuable resources owned by a business, which were acquired at a measurable money cost. As an economic resource, they satisfy three requirements. In the first place, the resource must be valuable. A resource is valuable if it is cash/ convertible into cash; or it can provide future benefits to the operations of the firm. Secondly, the resource must be owned. Mere possession or control of a resource would not constitute an asset; it must be owned in the legal sense of the term. Finally, the resource must be acquired at a measurable money cost. In cases in which an asset is not acquired for cash or a promise to pay cash, the question is what it would have cost had cash been paid for it.
Business Accounting Software
Accounting is a system of collecting, summarizing, analyzing and reporting, in monetary terms, information about an organization. The end product of business accounting software is the financial statements consisting of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and statement of changes in financial position. These statements are, therefore, the source of information on the basis of which conclusions can be drawn regarding the operations of a firm. The analysis and interpretation of financial statements would depend upon the nature and type of information available.
Small Business Accounting 101
If you are in business, then guess what you are either an accountant by default or you need to hire one. Why? People ask that question while letting the year roll by until taxes come due. Oh no! Why do I have penalties? Simple, you are not an accountant and you should have hired on. So the first rule of business accounting is to hire one if you are not one.
7 Things to Consider Before Buying Small Business Accounting Software
The world of small business accounting software can be a minefield for any business owner. However choosing the right package is one of the most critical business decisions you will make.
Optimizing Your Cash Flow With Proper Accounts Receivable Management
Profitable businesses often struggle with cash flow due to poor accounts receivable management strategies. Included in this article are some practices and advice which businesses may employ to maintain a healthy receivables portfolio and optimize their cash flow.
Account Management - How to Manage Accounts to Maximize Sales
Congratulations! You successfully sold one or more of your company's products or services to a business unit, department, or division of a large organization. Now your manager has tasked you with "account management". If you are not already familiar with account management, you are probably asking yourself the following questions...
Small Business Accounting Services Simplifies Your Business Processes
Any business irrespective of size has different requirements and business strategies for the management of its businesses. Whether it is a small, medium or a large scale business, its sole purpose is to make more profits and less losses.
Retail Accounting - Get A Professional Approach
Retail shop is the place, which keeps on doing business activities from the moment of opening until closing. Due to fast business activities and instant transactions, it becomes very difficult to monitor and maintain all transaction.
Safeguarding Tax and Financial Records
The IRS recently published a newswire urging people to safeguard their records. IRS Acting Commissioner, Kevin M. Brown stated, "With forecasts calling for an active Atlantic hurricane season, the IRS encourages taxpayers to protect tax and financial documents that can be hard to replace. "