Start a 2010 paper trail now

Like most of you, we run our business on a calendar year rather than a fiscal year so we are starting to close the books for 2009 and begin a new year. Each January, we label folders for each month. These will hold all physical invoices, records, receipts and statements as they accumulate. Since every scrap of paper related to the business goes into a monthly folder, you may need twelve boxes. Duplicate checks attached to receipts, deposit slips stapled to paid client invoices and reconciliation printouts clipped to our bank statements before they go into the correct folder. We make copies as needed to file with each client’s individual records.

Electronic bookkeeping, invoicing and online banking put everything at your fingertips. Well, here’s the thing—for Uncle Sam and our accountants, that’s just not enough. They demand a paper trail of physical records to support the electronics. If a business is audited, we have to quickly locate those various snippets of paper—up to 10 years later.
Here are some business expenses IRS allows you to deduct if you have documentation:
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