In The United States and around the world, it seems like there is at least one major disaster a year. One thing you might not think of when you are making a disaster kit is adding a USB drive.
What should you add on this USB drive you ask? Some good suggestions would be scanned or electronic bank statements, tax returns, copies of your 1099s and insurance information. Adding pictures of your valuables will also help keep track of these items if you need to make an insurance claim.
By storing the USB drive with your emergency kit will make sure that if you need to leave in a hurry all of your items will be in a safe spot.
Please be careful. Not all organizations that ask for donations qualify for charitable contributions on your tax return. If your concerned about an organization that you donate to, or want to know whether it qualifies or not. There are a few different resources the IRS website has to help you narrow down the qualifying versus the non-qualifying organizations. The first one would be Publication 78, this publication will give you the low down with some helpful hints as to whether the organization qualifies to be a deductible organization. Here is a link to Publication 78, http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=119392,00.html
To find out if an organizations’ tax-exempt status has been revoked would happen if the organization did not file their annual information return for three or more years. There are so many charitable organizations that have lost their tax-exempt status the IRS has them listed by state and you can choose to look them up via Adobe or Excel. Here is a link to look at the organizations that have had their tax-exempt status revoked. http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=240099,00.html
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