IRS Urgest Taxpayers to Protect Financial and Tax Records

By: Martin Lukac
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:16:44
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

With the approach of hurricane season, the IRS is urging taxpayers to take steps to protect their financial records.

"Even if you don't live in an area prone to hurricanes, this is an excellent time to take a few minutes to help safeguard financial documents that can be hard to replace," said Kevin Brown, Commissioner of the IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Division.

You can start by taking advantage of paperless recordkeeping. Many people can access their bank statements, credit card statements, utility statements and other financial documents via email. This method is a great way to protect your financial records from disaster. You can scan your W-2s, tax returns and other documents into electronic format. You can even scan your deductible receipts.

You can then save all of your financial records to a key or CD. Put the CD in your safety deposit box or send it to a trusted relative. Make sure that you back up your files regularly and keep them in safe locations.

In the case of a disaster, having a record of your belongings and valuables can help you prepare and prove an insurance claim. Go room by room listing all of your belongings. Back this up with photographs or videotape.

"This will help you recall and prove the market value of items for insurance and casualty loss claims," said Tom Ochsenschlager with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "Be sure to store the photos with a friend or family member who lives away from the geographical area."

Have an emergency plan. Make sure that you have necessary documents kept safe. Keep you W-2s, tax receipts, home closing statements and insurance records close. Have the originals in a file that you can quickly grab if you need to leave in a hurry. Keep copies in a safe place.

Losing your financial and tax records in a disaster can add a lot more stress to an already awful situation. Be prepared for the worst.

Martin Lukac (http://www.MartinLukac.com), represents http://www.RateEmpire.com and http://www.1AmericanFinancial.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies!

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Taxes category

  • Use the Appraisal District's Information to Reduce Your Property Taxes - By: Patrick C O Connor
    Homeowners are amazed to learn they can obtain a copy of the appraisal district's evidence at a nominal cost. This is referred to as a House Bill 201 package, and is the only information many homeowners use to successfully reduce their property taxes.
  • Tax Return Outsourcing - Cost and Time Effective Services - By: Michelle Barkley
    Tax return outsourcing has simplified the cumbersome task of maintaining tax returns files and data in an efficient manner.
  • Optimise Savings with an Offshore Account - By: Isla Campbell
    Offshore accounts, based in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Ireland, offer many benefits to those wishing to set up a savings account. But what are the advantages of cash conservation offshore.
  • Texas Business Personal Property Rendition and Taxation - By: Patrick C O Connor
    The Texas Property Tax Code for many years had required owners of business personal property (BPP) to annually render those assets used in a business. Rendering is summarizing to the central appraisal district the ownership and value of the assets. Historically, however, over half of all owners of business personal property have not rendered.
  • How to sustain current economic slump? - By: Mark Waltzer
    Small businesses need professional accountants but their services are too expensive so it's better to hire an outsourcing vendor providing cost-effective accounting services and allow them to take your business to next level.
  • Texas Property Tax Appeals - By: Patrick C O Connor
    Texas Property Tax Appeals Steps to Protesting and Reducing Your Property Value Annually
  • Taxes - By: Patrick C O Connor
    Taxes are a levy imposed upon people or legal entities by a governmental entity. There are many forms of taxes including income taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, consumption taxes, excise taxes, retirement taxes, sales taxes, tariffs, toll taxes and transfer taxes. This article focuses on reducing income taxes for real estate owners.
  • Gift Tax Valuations - By: Patrick C O Connor
    Gift tax valuations are prepared for many reasons. Gift tax includes market value of gifts to charity, market value of conservation easements and gifts in excess of annual limit. Well-reasoned planning of gifts can minimize gift taxes, income taxes, and estate taxes.
  • Please keep your hands out of my pockets Uncle Sam!: Business tax savings you should know about. - By: Amar Brown
    Many people are unaware that a business including a home based business can mean thousands of dollars in tax advantages per year. Thousands that you can put back into you pocket. Here are a few tips on keeping Uncle Sam Out of your pockets and keeping more of your hard earned money in.
  • Cost segregation - correctly depreciation real estate 10 - By: Patrick O'Connor
    Depreciation is an important non-cash tax deduction. By increasing tax deductions, commercial property owners affect federal income tax reduction. The increase in tax write-offs generates such a large tax cut that some wonder if it is a tax shelter or tax evasion scheme. It is not. Cost segregation is an IRS-guided process used to increase tax deductions during the tax preparation process. The IRS has provided a detailed explanation of the items that qualify for short-life depreciation and acceptable methodologies for performing a cost segregation study. Cost segregation studies performed by appraisers in compliance with the IRS's Audit Techniques Guide are unlikely to be challenged in an audit. Commercial real estate owners seeking tax advice and tax relief can benefit from reviewing the tax relief available from cost segregation.