80 percent of the paper that small business owners file in our offices is NEVER referred to again. After one year that unnecessary document storage statistic increases to over 90 percent.
Eegads !! It’s no wonder we can’t find what we’re looking for. Use my paper retention tips to melt your small business paper blizzard and for tax-time at home.
Home Tax Audit records retention guideline tip:
Written documentation for each deduction: house improvement receipts, buy/sell/donate/yearly investment statements, 1099s and/or W-2s, credit card/bank statements & checks.
After six years; Put actual tax filing papers and any essentials (W-2s/1099s into a permanent tax records archive. For details see: http://www.organizer-extraordinaire.com/Small-Business-Tax-Records-Guidelines.pdf
Then, dispose of outdated backup documentation and SHRED.
If you turn your personal tax insurance and financial record shredding over to a company — make sure they will let you watch them shred your documents.
For more tips on records retention guidelines for business and personal tax documentation check out: http://www.organizer-extraordinaire.com/Small-Business-Tax-Records-Guidelines.pdf
If you don’t need it, why not dump it?