D.D. Pallmer <ddpalmer[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

Yes. Whatever medium you expect to keep .pdf on is more
subject to failure than paper.

Seth

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I don't see the benefit in shredding this document. While a
copy may preserve your legal rights, what's the big
difficulty in keeping a few pieces of paper for a few years?

Would you make a copy and shred this if it were a stock
certificate? A notarized will? A deed?

Making a backup copy to a PDF file is probably a wise idea.
But destroying the original seems to have little benefit.

Hank Murphy
speaking only for myself

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"D.D. Pallmer" <ddpal...[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

PDF files are as good as paper. See
http://www.denvertax.com/paperless-filing/ . Along the right
hand side of that page is a link to IRS Guidance On
Electronic Records. You must keep the PDF files as long as
it would be prudent to keep paper. You are required to make
sure that those PDF files are properly backed up, etc.

I hope this helps.

Dave

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"D.D. Pallmer" <ddpalmer[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

To be absoutely sure, you should keep them until after your
father dies and his estate is given a clean bill of health
by the IRS.

- quote -

The real issue is, were the beneficiaries timely notified
about their rights to withdraw the gifts, and did they
actually have those rights? If no gift tax return was filed,
there is technically no limit to how far back the IRS can
go.

- quote -

But the exemption is going back to $1,000,000 per person in
2010 or 2011. So unless your father is planning to die
before that, be very careful.

Stu

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"D.D. Pallmer" <ddpalmer[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

With THAT size of estate, don't be so cheap -- get
PROFESSIONAL advice.

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Back in 1991 (when estate taxes kicked in at $600,000 of
assets), my father's lawyer set up, for him, a Irrevocable
Life Insurance Trust. My brother and I are the trustees. My
mother is the income beneficiary and brother and I receive
the remainder once they both are gone. The lawyer died about
10 years ago and I've been doing all the record keeping
myself and paying the premiums with dad's gifted money, etc.
My question is this: How long do I need to keep the original
"Crummey Letters". These are the notifications to the
beneficiaries (my mother, brother and myself) that dad has
made a gift to the trust and we have the right to withdraw
it within 30 days. The beneficiares then sign that they (we)
received the notice. Of course we have never demanded
immediate payment of the gift, because we understand that
it's being used to pay the life insurance premiums.

So now it's 15 years later and I have a stack of this stuff.
I'd like to scan it to .pdf files. My concern is that
someday the IRS will deem the life insurance as part of
dad's estate because I don't have original documents to show
that we had the right to withdraw the gifts along the way.
It would seem to me that the real issue here is not the life
insurance but whether or not the gifts were of present
value. And if that is the case there must be a limit on how
many years back the IRS can deem a gift as "future value" or
not. Regardless of the fact that the gift is being used to
buy insurance.

As a side note, the current estate tax free amount is $2M
and rising to, I think $3.5M soon. Even if the life
insurance WAS deemed "estate taxable" because I don't have
15 year old original "Crummey Letters", it still would not
push dad over the $2M. Anything can happen with estate
taxes, at this point, however, so I'd like to have some
handle on the "Crummey Letters" before I scan 'n shred them.

So do you guys think scanning to .pdf will create potential problems?

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