IRS, SBA offer survival guides for disaster

"Disaster" doesn't just mean a hurricane or earthquake. What if your office's sprinkler system went haywire? Can you handle a payroll provider that defaults? Or, could your business survive a power outage? As of this afternoon, 157,030 Virginians were still without electricity due to the recent thunderstorms, according to the Department of Emergency Management.

A webinar next week will reveal the "Top 5 Disaster Risks for Small Businesses." Hosted by the Small Business Administration and Agility Recovery Solutions, the one-hour webinar is at 2 p.m. (EST) July 10.

The IRS recently offered a few tips for safeguarding tax records.They include:

• Most financial documents are now available online for safekeeping.. However, for hard copies, scan them into electronic versions and then download them to an external hard drive or CD. Keep the storage device separate from originals.
• Does your payroll provider have a fiduciary bond service? These bonds protect your business if the provider fails to hold up its end of the contract.
• If tax documents are destroyed by flood, fire or other disaster, the IRS can help. To order back copies of old tax returns, fill out Form 4506.