I came across advice on a site called Unclutterer the other day that I found somewhat perplexing. I love that site because it usually offers wonderful advice on how to simplify your life. But the advice about keeping paper records to satisfy some unspecified IRS requirement struck me as off. So I did some research and turns out the advice was way off.
Isn’t it funny how we all seem to instinctively know what the IRS and the Constitution require without having gone to law school, or even bothering to do basic research. Anyway, if you agree that keeping paper records is counter-productive then please read my post about this at PDF for Lawyers. And feel free to link to it: you might wind up doing some confused paper-hoarder a huge favor.
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Actually, the advice I give in the article is based on advice from a tax attorney and an accountant. Both told me that they have had problems with the US government and its digital files policy. They said that even though the law states that digital files are acceptable, that field agents are adamant about not using them as actual proof. It’s a case of the lawmakers and the enforcers being two separate entities. Both the attorney and the accountant said that it will be another five to 10 years before the letter of the law is followed. So, I used their advice since they’re the ones in the nitty gritty of it all.