Home Office Organization-Archive Tax Files

Can you get to your old taxes in 30 seconds or less if you had to?  Yes, it is possible, it’s even easy to set up!  Just follow these 4 steps to  home office organization for your archive taxes:

Step #1:  Gather all of your old tax documents so you can see just how much you have.

Step #2:  Decide how many years of back taxes you feel comfortable keeping.  Here are some tips from the IRS for record retention.

Step #3:  Decide where you have the space to store your taxes.  They really don’t have to be at your fingertips, you probably won’t access them often at all. Old taxes can be kept in the bottom drawer of a file cabinet or even in a labeled banker’s box in a closet.

Step #4:  Use hanging file folders labeled:  Taxes 1, Taxes 2, Taxes 3, etc.  Place the most recent tax return in Taxes 1.  Every year move them all back one and place the newest return in Taxes 1 and shred the return that was in the back folder that got booted.  This is an easy way to store old taxes without the need to change the labels on the outside according to the year.  You will always know that you can find your most current return in the front.

Keep your home office organized and have peace of mind that you have your taxes easily accessible should the IRS come a callin’!  Let’s hope that never happens.

Your Home Organization Expert-Monika

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Tags: archive taxes, banker's box, file cabinet, files, hanging file folders, home office organization, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, home organization expert, IRS, tax return