In Crisis Mode, Turn To Your Tax Return

After Hurricane Katrina, we're all being told to do some disaster planning. Create an evacuation box that contains your key personal documents, experts say.

Yet Connie Bracher, a California tax professional, learned from experience that even the well prepared can't plan for the unexpected.

When Bracher's Crestline, Calif., neighborhood was being threatened by wildfires last year, she wasn't allowed to return to her home.

"If you have a disaster box with your important papers, what happens if you can't get back into your home to retrieve it?" asked Bracher, who knows all too well that in the wake of a disaster such as a fire, hurricane or earthquake, records may have to be reconstructed in order to prove a loss. After all, what happens if the bank where you rented a safe-deposit box for all your vital records is destroyed?

The best way to protect your documents is to put them on a computer disk or flash drive and give them to a friend or trusted family member who doesn't live near you, says Bracher, who is an enrolled agent and chairman of the disaster committee of the California Society of Enrolled Agents. (Enrolled agents are individuals licensed by the federal government to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service.) However, if you don't take her advice and your documents are destroyed, there is one good place to start your reconstruction -- your tax return.

You can find some details about -- or at least construct a listing of -- bank and investment accounts because you have to declare interest and dividend income. If you own property, information about that is included on your return, and there's employment information found on the W-2 form you submitted.

Taxpayers have two options for getting copies of their federal returns -- tax return transcripts and tax account transcripts -- and either can be ordered by phone or by mail.

A tax return transcript shows most line items from your return as it was originally filed, including any accompanying forms and schedules. A tax account transcript shows any later adjustments either you or the IRS made after the return was filed. This transcript also will have basic data, including marital status, type of returned filed, adjusted gross income and taxable income.

The transcript can be ordered by completing a Form 4506-T or calling 800-829-1040. There is no charge for the transcript, and you should receive it in about two weeks from the time the IRS receives your request. Return transcripts are generally available for the current and past three years.

If you need a photocopy of a previously processed tax return and attachments, complete Form 4506, "Request for Copy of Tax Return." Copies are generally available for the current year and past six years. You can download the forms at http://www.irs.gov/ , or you can order them by calling the IRS at 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Typically, the IRS charges $39 for each return photocopy. But the fee is waived if you are the victim of a declared disaster. The IRS also expedites requests from disaster victims. For example, victims of the recent catastrophe on the Gulf Coast just need to write "Hurricane Katrina" in red at the top of Form 4506 or Form 4506-T, an IRS spokesman said.

Bracher said if you are the victim of a fire or some other disaster, you should always make a notation in red on the top of the IRS form. That way, your form can be expedited, and the fee is usually waived.