reir artment of the aaalincome. Tax Retum dividual Ince For the year ~ other tax year beginning label eeructions In page 19.) IRS rmopr Your firsSrnamae and |init spouselsfirst (NAPSA)—With more people filing taxes electronically, and media reports urging Americans to shred personal documents to combat identity theft, consumers today are learning to keep a hard copy of important documents, including tax returns. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the general rule of thumb is to hold 1040 forms and accompanying tax schedules, along with important documents such as W-2s, 1099 miscellaneous income statements, receipts and cancelled checks, for an averageof six to 10 years. Consider these five financially fit tips to help clear the clutter and bring simple security mea- sures designed to make tax time less taxing: Copy it. Whether you choose to file traditionally or electronically, a hard copy of returns, safeguarded with all accompanying documents, is the first and most important step toward being financially organized. “To help, on April 15, Staples Copy & Print Centers nationwide are makingit easy for consumers to keep a hard copy of their tax returns with free copies, up to 20 pages, of 2007 tax returns,” said John Burke, senior vice president. Protect it. With more than 10,000 known computer viruses, whenfiling taxes electronically, be drives, ‘portable drives or USB flash drives to store tax data (depending on thesize of the files) include the Maxtor 500GB OneTouch 4 Plus, the Maxtor 120GB OneTouch 4 Mini Hard Drive and the SanDisk 2GB Cruzer Professional USB Flash Drive. Organize it. Keeping or- ganized is especially important during the tax season, when confidential papers are essential for tax filing. M by Staples file fold- ers and expandable files come in rich, classic, timeless designs and patterns. Shred it. Turn confidential papers and those documents that are not necessary to archive into unreadable scraps. The MailMate M3 Shredder, 10-Sheet Micro-Cut Shredder and the 15-Sheet MicroCut Shredder can handle small or large amounts of confidential more than $12 billion annually to information. “By evaluating these five steps —copy, protect, store, organize and shred—consumers can choose the best route for personal tax storage device to protect vital digital tax information. External hard time that, for millions, is quite stressful,” concluded Burke. sure that security software, such as Norton Internet, is installed on your computer. Store it. U.S. businesses lose data loss. Consider an external organization and take control of a
