I need a filing system. please tell me about yours

In My Humble Opinion
21

Depends on the receipt. Donations, we keep. If it’s an online thing paid with a credit card I suspect the credit card statement would do, but I’ll usually print out and keep whatever electronic receipt they issue anyhow.

Medical: Well, except for one year where we were able to deduct about a thousand dollars, it’s not been an issue, but for the most part, our payments (checking history and/or credit card) are the only really reliable source, what with a lot of the expenses being run through our flex spending. A simple EOB wouldn’t say whether we’d paid and been reimbursed, or paid out of pocket. So for that, we rely on a report from the relevant accounts in Quicken, showing outflows, insurance reimbursements to us, reimbursements from flex spending, and the net amount we really were out of pocket. If we need a cancelled check as proof, we could print that when we do the tax return. Other backup for that report would include the credit card statements (soft copy readily printable), and a printout of flex spending transactions from the servicer (ditto).

Other deductions aren’t receipt-able - charitable and medical mileage. To document those, we go through our calendar (Palm Pilot in our case) and list all such trips, and their distances.

Basically, when tossing receipts, you have to apply some knowledge of what they might be needed for, and any special circumstances (like the tax credit mentioned above).

22

A power of attorney dies when you do, so it’s of no use to your executor. Never keep your will in a safe deposit box - upon your death, that box will be sealed.

23

I don’t [del]toss out[/del] shred anything tax related for seven years, since that’s what Revenue Canada recommends - they can’t audit after seven years have gone by. I can’t claim utilities etc as a tax expense because they aren’t - I don’t run a business from home or anything like that. Anything tax-related goes into my tax file for that year and I keep for seven years.

24

Not necessarily. I’m a co-signer on PiperDad’s safe deposit box, for just that reason. In the event of his sickness or death, I can access it to get his will or power of attorney. There is, of course, a substantial element of trust involved in that arrangement.

But I agree with your general point - putting a will or power of attorney in a safe deposit box keeps it safe, but may make it impossible to access in a hurry.

25

We’re sort of talking at cross-purposes, here. The question of putting the power of attorney in the safe deposit box isn’t relevant.

A power of attorney is useless after the person dies - it no longer has any force or effect. So, it doesn’t matter where it is. If someone has given you a power of attorney, *you *should have that document, and you can keep it wherever you like. The person who granted it doesn’t hang onto it - that would be useless.

So, let’s say person X grants a power of attorney to person Y. Person Y should now have that document, and should keep it someplace safe. A safe deposit box is fine, since it would be person Y’s safe deposit box, and person Y could get to it any time he needed to.

Now, person X dies. The power of attorney is no longer of any use to anyone. A power of attorney doesn’t survive the death of the person granting it, ever, under any circumstances. In effect, the executor is now the person who can act on behalf of person X, selling his property, distributing assets to the heirs, etc.

26

And yes, if you’re the co-signer on the safe deposit box, keeping the will there is probably OK, though I’m not sure I’d be willing to gamble on it. Better to have the will elsewhere, like with the attorney who drew it up, with a copy in your desk drawer.

27

Are there lawyers, or law firms, who specialize in this sort of thing? When I die, my family or executor contacts this lawyer and obtains all the needed paperwork? Is it a good idea for the lawyer to be the executor?

28

Mine is really simple. I get a box each year. I have a folder for investments, a folder for taxes, a folder for medical, a folder for bills. Everything gets functionally dumped into the box.

At the beginning of the year, I get a new box and set it on top of the old box. The bottom box goes into the basement - but first I pull out the file folder for “bills” and toss it. After six years, I burn it.

I have a seperate file box for long term important papers - birth certificates, marriage licenses, passports.

Once in a great while I have to dig through all the papers in the box. It never takes longer than actually filing would do.

29

Plenty of them - look for someone who specializes in wills, trusts, and estates. In a small town, any reputable attorney can handle this kind of stuff (they tend not to be as specialized). Probably best to steer clear of a firm that specializes in personal injury stuff or criminal defense work, all of which is very different.

Having an attorney as the executor makes sense if you have a large, complicated estate, but you’ll pay for it (or at least your heirs will!). For most typical estates (maybe a house, a car, some investments, nothing weird), having one of the heirs (like the most level-headed of the kids) as the executor will do just fine. In most places, the clerk of the probate court can lead any reasonably intelligent person through the process.

ETA: In some jurisdictions, the executor must be either an attorney licensed in that state, or a resident of that state. When I lived in VA, for example, my brother, who’s in CT, could not be my executor. The attorney who draws up the papers will know about those kinds of little “gotchas.”

30

I just started doing some freelance writing, so I have a sorta-system for keeping track of tax things. It’s ridiculously simple–just a three-ring binder divided into “IN” and “OUT” and kept in chronological order, plus a giant plastic accordion file box from Target, where I keep all kinds of things (tax stuff, student loan stuff, my clips, receipts…)

Receipts: I photocopy them, three-hole-punch the copy, and put it in a binder. The original receipt gets tossed into the accordion box. On the copy, I note what it’s for (office supplies, books/magazines for research or reference material, etc…) and on the next page, print out my online bank statement that shows the transaction. I highlight the total on the receipt and the transaction on the statement.

Other types of proof: I keep a journal of career-related things that I do, even if they’re not for paying jobs, but that started out as being just for my own reference and reassurance. I also have a date book, where I list all my appointments and to-do lists. That’s also mainly for my peace of mind. I heard, though, that those things can be useful at tax time.

Pay info from jobs: I print out my invoice, date it, and file it in the binder. Check stubs are sorta duplicates of that, so they just get tossed into another portion of the accordion box.

Bills: Meh. My fiance and I don’t bother saving them. They get paid, they get tossed.

Student loans: I… well… I really need to find out how to find out the amount of interest I’ll be paying. They go into repayment in a few months and I’m kinda nervous. I really hope someone else has more to say about student loan record-keeping than I do. :wink:

I’m a very tactile person, so as computer-addicted as I am, I just need to have hard copies of things that I can touch and pick up and manipulate. The most software I’ve ever used for money-things is an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my bank balance, and I’ve more or less gone back to keeping a running tally on the back of a receipt. Heh.

31

I’m well aware of the limited duration of the power of attorney, but you’re confusing two different issues - the legalities, and the personal arrangements. There’s no absolute right answer as to how papers should be kept. This the arrangement that works for PiperDad.

PiperDad has signed a power of attorney, but he only wants me to use it in an emergency. So he’s put it in his safe deposit, to which I have access. I know it’s there, and he sees it every time he uses his box, so he knows I’m not misusing it. The box also has his will. That’s why I mentioned in my post “In the event of his sickness or death”. The power of attorney is available in case he’s seriously ill and needs me to handle his affairs; the will is available if it’s worse. :frowning: He likes that arrangement, I’m comfortable with it, and it means that the necessary papers are available for either contingency.

32

My experience on one part of this:
a few big files are easier to deal with than a lot of little ones. Easier to figure out which file to put something in, and easier to find when you need to. (Even if you have to search through a big file, that’s usually faster that trying to figure out which smaller file it’s in and then searching that, only it’s not there so now try again with another file, etc.

I have working files for

  • bills/receipts
  • income (paycheck stubs, etc.)
  • bank statements
  • investments. retirement, all that stuff
    Each year I start a new file folder for each of these categories. (I like to use the colored file folders: red for bills, green for income, blue for investments, etc.) When I switch to a new folder at the end of the year, I do go through and sort them, so all the bills from the same company are together, and in order by month, all the paycheck stubs are there and in order, etc. This simplifies things when doing taxes.

I also have folders for various documents that I need, but that have changes or additional papers only occasionally: legal papers (will, birth certificate), house (legal papers, documents on major upgrades), car (title, etc.) and so forth.

For me, I’ve found that a simpler system is better – it’s easier to set up, and easier to keep up with. And you can always add more complicated filing if you find you need that. But start out simple.

33

I realize that many people enjoy filing. They like making everything nice and orderly, each paper in it’s place and ready for easy access.
But paycheck stubs? I’ve never referred to a pay stub when doing my taxes. I’ve never referred to a paycheck stub for anything, except at the time I received it and found a mistake. That’s happened a couple times in the fifty years I’ve been receiving paychecks.
Same for bills. I always check for mistakes when I receive the bill, not seven years down the road. Now most all my bills are online and I just save them on my computer for a while, usually till whatever the bill is about is over. My lawnmower is more than a year old, the warranty is expired, and I’m on my own with it. No reason to hang on to a receipt. I’ve never had a cop demand that I prove ownership of my lawnmower.
The appliance in my home that gets the most wear and tear is my shredder. :stuck_out_tongue:
But you guys are right. Something could happen. :eek:
Peace,
mangeore