How Long Do I Have To Keep This?

Record Retention Schedule

If you're in business, you know that space costs money. As a result, businesses often try to eliminate as much historical paperwork as possible to more effectively use their office or storage space. When working on a project like this, our clients usually want guidance on what to keep, and for how long.

We've developed a record retention schedule that gives suggestions on how long to keep various documents. Essentially, you need to keep things as long as they may be relevant to taxing or regulatory authorities, and certain other items just need to be kept indefinitely. For instance, if you're considering selling your business, the seller might want to see an in-depth financial history of many years. Some payroll records need to be kept indefinitely as well.

The retention schedule is available in our Forms area. If you have a question on an unlisted item, please feel free to drop us a line or add a comment here.

Reduce Junk Mail and Identity Theft

We all know about the rash of identity theft that has hit our community and others nationwide. One of the key sources for the data that is used to commit these crimes is unsecured mail. More than 400,000 Americans each year can trace falsely-opened credit accounts to stolen mail. Reducing the excess mail can help you reduce your exposure to this type of crime.

There are three key places you should contact to help tame the junk mail in your box.

• Remove your name from this list sold by consumer reporting agencies to credit card companies for preapproved offers.
  
  
• The Direct Marketing Association's removal tool can pull your name off of the mailing lists used by their 5,200 members - most of the junk you get. Obviously, they're not really concerned about getting your name off the list; they charge $5 to submit your request online, although you can print your request from their site and mail it to them.
  
  
• Remove yourself from unsolicited mortgage and home equity loan offers by visiting the DataQuick website.
  

Take 10 minutes to visit these sites, and you'll be on the way to protecting your identity.

Death Now Less Taxing in Washington

The Washington Supreme Court eliminates state's estate tax

The Supreme Court eliminated the differences between State and Federal rules regarding taxable estates in Washington. You probably remember that the Congress passed legislation in 2001 that raises the threshhold for a taxable estate over the next several years, and eliminates estate taxes in 2010. Washington had never increased their threshhold accordingly, so individuals were having to deal with two different sets of rules for estate taxes. Even though an estate was exempted from federal tax, it could have a Washington liability.

This difference complicated financial planning and prevented Washington residents from enjoying the estate tax relief contemplated by Congress. The Supreme Court decided that Washington was only ever entitled to a portion of the federal tax. If there were no federal tax, Washington had no right to collect the state's portion.

As a result, estates that paid Washington will receive at least a partial refund of their estate taxes. If an estate was completely exempt from Federal tax, it looks like they will receive a full refund from Washington.

This is the type of change that makes a huge difference here in the financial and estate planning community. Differing sets of standards complicate the planning substantially, and simplification will help individuals better understand the rules.