Shred Instead is pleased to partner with The Buckley Group for the THIRD straight DC Free Shred Event
This event is to be hosted by The Buckley Group on Saturday, April 16th, 2016 from 9 – 11 AM in the The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament Parking lot located at:
3630 Quesada St NW
Washington, DC 20015
Shred Instead will be on-site and able to destroy your personal records while you watch! Our Shredding Trucks are equipped with CCTV Systems that display on a monitor mounted to the side of the truck. Please feel free to leave all hanging file folders, staples, paper clips, binder clips even the large alligator clips will pass through our commercial shredding machines. **We will not be able to destroy any 3 ringed binders or other card board materials**
Record Retention: What to Keep, What to Shred and where to put it all
It is natural that tax season comes with an extra dose of confidential information and documents that need to be protected against fraud. Among other factors, the wealth of investment information, employment records and social security numbers that individuals are handling makes the risk of fraud or stolen information even more severe. Document shredding plays a vital role in ensuring privacy compliance (for businesses), avoiding identity theft (for individuals) and overall, safeguarding confidential information.
Unfortunately as we all know, home and office shredders don’t always get the job done. Not only do you have to babysit the project, slowly and painfully feeding the shredder a few pages through at a time, but also a bag of shredded paper can be an even more attractive target for thieves. Here are a few shredding DO’s and DON’T’s to help get through this Tax Season.
Do Shred. As a rule, the vast majority of tax returns and records should be kept for at least seven years in case of an audit, but promptly thereafter should be securely destroyed. Bank and credit card statements, canceled checks and ATM receipts can typically be destroyed after one year, unless of course they are supporting your tax records. There are several other residential records that should be destroyed after use as well, including pay stubs and credit card pre-approval letters or applications.
Do NOT Shred. Be sure to keep all legal documents like Wills and Insurance Policies in a secure and fireproof location. You don’t want these documents going anywhere. Also, hold on to records of contribution to non-deductible accounts in order to make sure you don’t end up paying more taxes than necessary in the future.
Whatever your tax preparation and file purging entails this season, be sure to remember your privacy and keep your confidential information secure.