As winter is already here and many parts of the country are in areas that could be hit by disasters, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reminding people once again to get ready for natural disasters that could affect their tax returns and keep their important papers safe.
When the holidays are coming up and most documents can be found again if needed, it may not seem important to worry about taxes.
However, since it is National Preparedness Month and the Pacific and Atlantic hurricane seasons are still going on, you should take a look at how you store your papers, whether they are digital or not, and decide if they are safe enough.
There are times when the IRS can delay tax payment and filing dates in areas that have been affected by a natural disaster. However, you may not want to spend time putting together your documents to file your taxes right now.
Many extensions have already been given to taxpayers this year because of disasters like storms, tornadoes, and floods caused by extreme weather, and 2025 will be the same.
The extension is pretty much a given, but the IRS says that paying taxes should not be your only concern. “After a disaster, having up-to-date documents and other information on hand can make it easier for victims to get help from the IRS and other organizations.”
People and businesses may be able to recover financially from the effects of a disaster with the help of disaster aid and emergency relief, especially if the federal government labels the area where they live a major disaster area.
Safekeeping documents the IRS needs
Tax returns from the last few years at least, birth certificates, Social Security cards, deeds, titles, insurance policies, and other important papers are things that the IRS tells people to keep track of. To keep most of these safe, they should all be kept in cases that are waterproof and will not catch fire.
It is also a good idea to give copies of these to a family member, friend, or someone else you trust in case this safe gets broken or can not be reached after the disaster.
It might seem like too much, but if you have lost a lot of important things, you might be glad to have access to most of those records.
Another suggestion is to scan or take pictures of all of your paper records and save them as digital files in a safe place online. This way, you can access them even if you lose or destroy the originals.
People can get copies of most deeds and personal papers at banks, the public records office, and other places. This way, if nothing else works and all the documents are lost, they can still be found. The IRS might even have some from other cases saved.
However, keep in mind that any local office will have likely been hit as well, so getting them might take some time. Also, it is possible that other people will also need to use these services, which means they will slow down.
Keeping track of stock
No matter where you live or what natural tragedies happen, everyone should do this. Regularly making a list of your assets can help you avoid a lot of problem with both insurance companies and the IRS.
Taking pictures or videos and writing detailed descriptions, including the year, make, and model numbers where available, can help with this. This is particularly important for specialty equipment that might be hard to replace.
When it is time to file for insurance or tax benefits, these records can help back up the claims and speed up the process. However, they need to be current and have enough information to stand up to close inspection.