How to Prepare Your Business for a Disaster

Proactive Tips from Peters Financial + IRS Guidance

Natural disasters can strike at any time—home fires, floods, hurricanes—and they impact far more than just physical assets. Proper preparation ensures your financial records, tax filings, and operations remain intact and compliant. Backed by the IRS’s expert advice, here’s how Peters Financial helps small business owners stay protected.

1. Digitize & Back Up Your Records

The IRS recommends transitioning to paperless recordkeeping and safeguarding electronic files off-site—away from your business or home location irs.gov.

At Peters Financial, we help you create automated cloud backups of tax returns, payroll records, and financial documents—so you maintain access even if your primary site is compromised.

2. Document Your Assets

According to the IRS, taking photographs or videos of valuable property and using their disaster-loss workbooks (Pubs 584 & 584‑B) helps support insurance or tax filings irs.gov+5irs.gov+5irs.gov+5.

Our approach: we guide you through filling out these worksheets, capturing purchase dates, values, and condition details—greatly simplifying loss claims or casualty deductions.

3. Build an Emergency Plan

The IRS stresses updating your emergency preparedness plan annually and storing copies of critical financial data in secure secondary locations irs.gov+1irs.gov+1.

We assist in developing a detailed continuity plan: mapping data recovery, payroll processing, vendor communication, and tax deadlines—so your business stays operational under pressure.

4. Leverage Disaster-Related Tax Relief

Once FEMA declares a disaster, the IRS grants automatic extensions for filing and payments—no need to request relief irs.gov+11irs.gov+11irs.gov+11.

What we do: we track IRS relief updates, notify clients of changes, reconstruct records when needed, and help claim casualty-loss deductions or extended deadlines when eligible.

Why It Matters

Disasters can threaten your business’s survival. Having a comprehensive financial backup and tax-plan in place not only minimizes stress but ensures you're legally protected and ready to rebound quickly.

How Peters Financial Supports You

Our team offers:

• Digital document management with secure cloud storage

• Asset documentation and disaster-loss reporting

• Tailored continuity and emergency-response planning

• Timely tax relief notifications and record reconstruction support

Contact us today for a customized disaster-preparedness strategy—because real protection starts before disaster strikes.

Source: IRS, “Preparing for a disaster (taxpayers and businesses),” Internal Revenue Service, last reviewed May 29, 2025 irs.gov+8irs.gov+8irs.gov+8irs.gov+4irs.gov+4irs.gov+4.

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About the Author:

David Peters, CPA, CFP, ChFC, CLU, CPCU, CGMA, is the Founder and Owner of Peters Professional Education (petersprofessionaleducation.com) and Peters Tax Preparation & Consulting, PC. David Peters is also registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an Investment Advisor Representative (IAR) with Peters Financial LLC. He regularly teaches courses in accounting, finance, insurance, financial planning, and ethics throughout the United States, and regularly contributes regularly to various professional publications, including NCACPA’s Interim Report, SCACPA’s CPA Report, and VSCPA’s Disclosures.

Required Disclosure:

The content presented above is for informational purposes only, is general in nature, and is not intended to and should not be relied upon or construed as a financial plan or financial/investment advice regarding any specific issue or factual circumstance.

Financial and investment advisory services offered through Peters Financial LLC. Brokerage and custodial services offered through Charles Schwab Co. Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Peters Financial LLC and Charles Schwab Co. Inc. are not affiliated. David Peters also offers tax services through Peters Tax Preparation & Consulting, PC. Clients or prospective clients are never obligated to use Peters Tax Preparation & Consulting, PC. as part of any financial planning or investment management services offered by Peters Financial LLC.