It's that happy, wacky time of the year, when my husband suddenly realizes how much we've spent on clothing at our house. Yes, it's tax time, when we pull all the credit card statements, medical bills, income and outcome estimates together, and figure out whether or not Uncle Sam will let us keep the house, kids, dogs and other tax liabilities we've come to know and love!
As you begin to contemplate your own tax prep work, I just want to remind you of a few internet security related issues for this season. It's not the only thing to consider but it is extremely important to bear these in mind:
1. Make sure your internet security software is on and up-to-date.
2. Carefully select your tax prep provider or software.
Visit http://www.irs.gov/ for approved software providers that support online filing. Do you know your tax prep provider well? Ask yourself if friends have used him/her or you have personally? Don't just go with someone who promises big refunds. We're seeing loads of tax return fraud, especially via services that advance cash on refunds.
3. Did you protect your private information throughout the year? Here are some of the best practices we call try to achieve:
a. Don't give anyone your Social Security number or your children's numbers without a very good reason. The Wall Street Journal just reported a story about a Girl Scout leader (!) who has been convicted of using troop member Social Security numbers for her personal tax filings (and fraudulent refunds!)
b. You checked your credit report at least once this year and reviewed it for no credit surprises; Visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ to get started now. The FTC site has more information on how this works.
c. Optional: put a freeze or alert on your credit account if you don't need any refinancing or new credit cards. Details at the FTC site as well.
d. You've been shredding unneeded financial records and statements and disposed of old or unneeded credit cards in pieces, to avoid theft and reuse by criminals.
e. You secured your postal mail so it can't be stolen, with a locking mail box or secure slot into your home.
4. When ready to eFile, make sure connection is safe, with your internet security software updated and running. When you are connected to your provider's software or website, look for indications the connection is encrypted (you should see the address change to "https" and a lock symbol appear in the browser frame). Turn off (or remove) any peer to peer file sharing services. Users of peer to peer services can inadvertantly allow a criminal anywhere in the world to find their tax file record (usually a pdf file) on their computer with every last shred of their personal information. Examples of peer to peer services: LimeWire, Kazaa, BitTorrent, just to name but a few. Don't prepare or file taxes on a shared, insecure connection like open wifi.
5. Encrypt and secure any pdf copies of the return on your computer (in your My Documents view, right mouse click a file name to select "Encrypt"). Print out a copy and put in a safe location in the house. Back up or store additional copies out of your house.