Tax Time – Are You Going Paperless?

Get Your 1099’s Paperless If You Hurry

Once you spend a day standing in front of a fire, shredding your hands as you try to separate and crumple old documents no longer needed, chasing a few that the fire and wind blow away, you will be ready to consider going paperless.

Did you know that you can even get 1099 tax forms in paperless format from brokerage firms, banks, etc?

Get your 2012 taxes done earlier by having your tax documents available right away, delivered securely, minus the vagaries of the Postal System.

One firm I logged into the website of this morning was advertising that you could get your 2012 1099’s paperless from them if you signed up by January 15th.

Let’s Look At The Advantages Of Going Paperless

Those who know me know that I was hesitant to go paperless. Dr. Gary North always preached having PAPER copies of important financial documents to protect against “the day the digits die”.

Well, Y2K is behind us, and that was a non-event for 99.99% of the world’s population.

That doesn’t mean that maybe an annual statement can be printed and filed, that doesn’t take up too much room or take too long to shred & burn 5 years worth of out-dated ones.

But here is why you might consider going paperless with your tax forms this year:

• Get your 1099’s as early as possible and get your taxes DONE as early as possible which will…
• Get your REFUND as early as possible
• Avoid having sensitive financial information delivered to the wrong address (THAT never happens!) like your nosy neighbor
• Avoid having your 1099 LOST, have you wondering where it is and eventually have to call/write/stop by and try to get a duplicate
• Make it easy to store electronically without having to scan it (it’s already in PDF format for you)
• It’s easy to purge years down the road, just click “delete” on it. No need to shred, burn. You never have to haul that heavy box of paper when you move.
• You can make backup copies lots easier than photocopying or scanning

One Additional Need

Now the only difference with digital, paperless forms is that you do have to make sure you back them up – in case of hard drive failure. On the plus side, it’s easy to HAVE A BACKUP at a secure location far away.

Depending on how much data you have, maybe even a FREE online backup account at Mozy would be enough. Otherwise, the paid accounts are cheap and well worth it.

Save Money Getting Your Taxes Done

Get your taxes down quickly and easily, either by doing your taxes totally online – Save 15% on H&R Block At Home Online Basic

Or, if you’re like me and prefer to actually install the tax software on your home computer, then save money on your taxes that way – Save 15% on H&R Block At Home Software

Maybe this is the year you go paperless. I went whole hog paperless in 2012 because I DID spend all day (more than once) crumpling papers and tossing them in the fire because I didn’t want to haul all those years of paper records 1200 miles to our new home.