Hurricanes, Twisters and Lightning

No questions about this one, but the weather guys are starting to talk about tropical storms forming.  When I think of hurricanes or tropical storms, I think of lots of destruction and lots of tax documentation flying away from those who need it.  While other bloggers and reporters may talk about preparing food, shelter and data backups, this blog is designed for the average person to read.  No one talks about your tax documentation.  What happens if you are audited by the IRS or a state jurisdiction?  What is the first thing they look for?  Documentation!  How do you support your deductions if the paperwork has all flown away?  My recomendation is always to digitize all your important documents.  Use a service like Mozy to perform a backup of your documents that is both encrypted and offsite.

Secondly, store the original paper documents in a secure place like a bank safe deposit box.  When paper is flying, your W-2s, 10992, 1098s and all sorts of items containing your social security number suddenly are not in your control.  This leaves you and perhaps your family open to some serious identity theft risks.  Secure those documents!!

In an event like this, it is also important to keep important insurance information in a location that can easily be accessed.  If everything is on computer and you have no electricity or phone capability, you are stuck.  Find somewhere safe where all of this can be kept and retrieved in the unfortunate event that a disaster strikes your household.

A business owner or manager has much more to keep track off than just these two things.  You have employees, equipment, and building management to be concerned with.  Make sure you have an effective plan in place to get your business up and running as quickly as possible.  Some good articles on this topic can be found here, here, and here.