File Security When Sending Tax Information to Your CPA

When sending in forms or paperwork to a CPA, one should exercise extreme caution. Otherwise, a hacker or criminal can access the information and take advantage of the company. To avoid problems, it is not enough to exercise common sense. No, one must go further if...  

 

When sending in forms or paperwork to a CPA, one should exercise extreme caution. Otherwise, a hacker or criminal can access the information and take advantage of the company. To avoid problems, it is not enough to exercise common sense. No, one must go further if they want to avoid problems when sending their tax information to a CPA. With this in mind, here are four things to do when emailing or otherwise electronically sending tax information to a professional.

Safe system:

First and foremost, a sender should use a safe and secure wired or wireless network. With this simple approach, one can avoid most issues and is unlikely to suffer or deal with a hacker. With that being said, when sending payment information or merchant account agreement paperwork, the sender should avoid coffee shops or other public networks. In fact, if possible, one should use a wired network as this removes most of the danger.

Password protected:

It is wise to protect the information by using a simple password. To do so, the business owner must encrypt the files and compress them using any available program that does the job. Then, in a separate email or phone call, the company owner should give the CPA his or her password. With this free and effective approach, the sender should not have any fears when emailing important tax documents.

Boring or no title:

Hackers can see the title of an email and are more likely to take notice when they see a title with tax documents verses a blank one. For this reason, it is wise to send files and add a short note. This will allow a sender to drop off the files quickly. Remember, it is easy to call up the CPA, ask him or her to check their email and then be done with the situation.

File host:

Often, one will have hundreds of files to send to their tax attorney or CPA. One way to do this securely is to put the files on a third-party server. By taking advantage of this method, one can show the CPA his or her information without worry. This is extremely beneficial for a company that accepts credit cards as a tax professional will have a lot of transactions to go over.

With these four tips, a small business owner can send his or her tax documents to the CPA without any fear.

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