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Is document shredding absolutely necessary? Yes, say the more than 11 million Americans per year who fall victim to identity theft. That's almost 4 percent of the total population. There was a time when document shredding was deemed more of a luxury, as it kept company storage spaces from filling up. Nowadays, it's more of a necessity. The most important documents to shred Identity thieves are very crafty. If they can't get your credit card number, they'll get your Social Security number instead, and open an account in your name. They're even willing to sift through your garbage for that credit card offer you threw away. That's why as a safety precaution, most companies in the City of Angels will have their unneeded documents shredded after having them digitized by Los Angeles data recovery services. So what exactly are the documents you need to shred? Above all else, anything with your credit card number on it. Second, anything with your Social Security number. Beyond these two biggies, shred anything that contains your personal information. When to shred tax documents When it comes to shredding, tax documents are a sensitive bunch. As a general rule, you should keep tax documents for three years on the chance that you get audited. However, if the IRS suspects that you failed to report income amounting to more than 25 percent of your gross income, they may demand to see records going back six years. Beyond that, everything related to taxes should be shredded including 1099 forms, W-2 forms, tax reporting statements, etc. The simple solution If you find it taxing to thumb through every old document just to determine what information it holds, you might want to simply shred it because that would be faster. You may also want to shred anything with mailing info on it, from catalogs sent to you by mail to magazine subscriptions with a mailing label on the cover. Some magazines don't ask for authentication to change a mailing address, which is the easiest form of losing your identity to a thief. Document shredding only seems tedious because people allow their old documents to pile up. If you do it regularly, it will be much less burdensome. Consult a Los Angeles data recovery service on how often your company should have its documents shredded. To help you choose the right data recovery company to use, visit wikihow.com/Choose-a-Data-Recovery-Company.
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