Southbourne Tax Group

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The Southbourne Tax Group Review: Struggling middle class give less to charity

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Donations by wealthy Americans surge

The divide between the rich and not-so-rich in America can be seen most glaringly in the amount of money they give (and have stopped giving) to charitable causes.

The average American household is giving far less to charity than it did a decade ago, but this hides two vastly different patterns of charitable giving. Over the past 10 years, charitable giving deductions from lower-income donors have declined significantly, at almost the same rate that charitable giving from higher income donors increased. Itemized charitable deductions from donors making less than $100,000 a year declined by 34% from 2005 to 2015, while the same deductions from donors making $100,000 or more a year increased by 40%, according to a study of tax filings by the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-wing think tank.

“The growth of inequality is mirrored in philanthropy,” Chuck Collins, report co-author said. “As wealth concentrates in fewer hands, so does philanthropic giving and power.” As a result, charities are increasingly relying on larger donations from smaller numbers of high-income, high-wealth donors, which could lead to undue influence of funds in major charitable organizations. And they are receiving less from the vast population of donors at lower and middle-income levels. (The authors consider low and mid-range donor income as under $100,000 per year.) Overall, charitable giving increased 4% to $373.25 billion year-over-year in 2015, regardless of income level.

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The number of donors giving at typical donation levels has also been steadily declining. (In terms of donations, below $10,000 is considered a low to mid-range gift, while over $10,000 is considered a high-dollar gift.) Lower and middle income donors to national public charities have declined by as much as 25% between 2005 and 2015. These are the people who have traditionally made up the vast majority of donor files and lists for most national nonprofits since their inception. This rate of decline “correlates strongly” with overall economic indicators, such as wages, employment and homeownership rates, the study said. And more and more giving is going into warehousing vehicles like foundations and donor advised funds, instead of to charities on the ground, it added.

It’s not all doom and gloom: Giving to schools and colleges is expected to grow by 6.3% this year and 6.1% next year, according to a separate report released last year by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and presented by Marts & Lundy, a fundraising and philanthropy consulting firm based in Lyndhurst, N.J. But the middle class likely had less to do with this spike too. “This may be due in part to the increasing interest of donors, and especially wealthy donors, foundations and even corporations, in funding higher education, as well as a growing role for philanthropy in K-12 education,” the report added.

Additional resources for business accounting tips are available here

The Southbourne Tax Group: It's tax season, avoid fraud by following these tips

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The person calling began to threaten the OPP civilian employee that if she did not send money to him, terrible things would happen to her

With tax season on the horizon OPP will be receiving calls from citizens who have been contacted and in some cases, have lost money. If you are contacted over the phone by someone saying they are the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) here are some tips taken right from the CRA website:

The CRA:

  • never requests prepaid credit cards;
  • never asks for information about your passport, health card, or driver's licence;
  • never shares your taxpayer information with another person, unless you have provided the appropriate authorization; and
  • never leaves personal information on your answering machine or asks you to leave a message containing your personal information on an answering machine.

When in doubt, ask yourself the following:

  • Is there a reason that the CRA may be calling? Do I have a tax balance outstanding?
  • Is the requester asking for information I would not include with my tax return?
  • Is the requester asking for information I know the CRA already has on file for me?
  • How did the requester get my email address or telephone number?
  • Am I confident that I know who is requesting the information?

When in doubt hang up the phone and call the CRA phone number included on the previous year tax returns or documentation received from the CRA. The number provided on the CRA website is 1-800-959-8281 for individual inquiries.

This story that happened in the late fall and speaks to the randomness of these calls.

A would be fraudster called the Orillia OPP detachment and was greeted by an administrative assistant with "good morning Orillia OPP". The person calling began to threaten the civilian employee that if she did not send money to him, terrible things would happen to her and he was going to be the one to do it.

The randomness comes from the fact that most people from Ontario understand that the OPP stands for Ontario Provincial Police. Many times these calls originate from foreign countries and are intended to scare you into sending money. If you receive one of these calls hang up and call the Canadian Anti-Fraud number at 1-888-495-8501.

If you or someone you know receives an e-mail, phone call or letter demanding money, asking for money, threatening you for money or saying the most terrible thing has happened and they need money to help a loved one please call someone you trust and talk it over with them. Think about the following when receiving an e-mail, phone call or letter:

  • Is it reasonable? Would a police agency call you for money to bail someone out? Would someone notify you of a million dollar win over e-mail?
  • If it's too good to be true it probably isn't true.
  • Just hang up then report it.
  • Call someone else and tell them the story before sending money.
  • Call the agency that is calling you; if you receive an e-mail asking for updated information call the bank or go to the bank and talk to a live person.
  • If there is any doubt call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
  • Please talk to your relatives about frauds especially elderly relatives as they are more likely to be victims.

Sadly each year Canadians are defrauded of millions of dollars.

If you receive a call, e-mail or letter and know it's a scam please hang up, delete the e-mail or shred the letter. If you have been the victim of a fraud no matter how small please contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.

Additional resources for business accounting tips are available here.

The Southbourne Tax Group: Tips - Against Tax Refund Fraud

A survey conducted by the data security and identity protection firm found more than half of Americans aren’t worried about tax fraud, despite federal reports showing identity thieves filed 787,000 fraudulent returns in 2016, which adds up to more than $4 billion in fraud.

The survey also found that only 35% of taxpayers ask their preparers to use two-factor authentication (which is stronger than a single password) to protect their information. On top of that, only 18% use an encrypted USB drive to save tax documents that contain sensitive information. When it comes to choosing a tax preparer, 50% of respondents said they chose their tax preparers online, didn’t screen them beforehand or weren’t sure how to evaluate a tax preparer at all. CyberScout said this puts consumers at risk of getting scammed. Finally, more than half (51%) of taxpayers expecting refund checks in the mail don’t use a locked mailbox.

Americans taxpayers are too lax about identity theft, according to CyberScout.

These findings come from a nationally representative survey of more than 1,500 Americans aged 18 and over commissioned by CyberScout, using Google Consumer Survey.

“In tax season, it is crucial that everyone remain vigilant and on high alert to avoid tax-related identity theft or phishing schemes,” said Adam Levin, founder and chairman of CyberScout and author of “Swiped.” Levin is also the co-founder of Credit.com.

How taxpayers can protect themselves

This is one of the busiest times for identity thieves, but there are steps taxpayers can take to protect themselves. Here’s what CyberScout recommends:

- Use a password-protected Wi-Fi connection when filing your taxes. Use a long and complex password – not just for your Wi-Fi but also for any accounts you’re using during the tax-filing process.

- Get your return via direct deposit. If you must receive a return check via mail, have it sent to a locked mailbox.

- Ask your tax preparer to use two-factor authentication to protect your documents and personal information.

- Use an encrypted USB drive to save sensitive tax documents.

Additional resources for business accounting tips are available here.

The Southbourne Tax Group: Why Tax Refund Fraud Losses Are Growing Rapidly

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Over the past five years, the IRS has been experiencing issues around identity theft. Evidence of stolen identity tax refund fraud, or simply tax refund fraud (TRF), began to emerge as early as 2004 when individuals began submitting fictional tax returns from prison. According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), in 2004, prisoners submitted 18,000 returns, which cost U.S. taxpayers $68 million. In 2010, they submitted 91,000 returns, with a loss of $757 million. Over that time, the prisoners also increased the average amount of money they collected, jumping from $3,777 in 2004 to a staggering $8,318 in 2010. Their tax fraud scheme exposed a flaw within the tax filing system.

Organized criminal enterprises understand flaws in the tax filing and refund system that allowed them to exploit procedural weaknesses and reap large returns for their efforts. TRF has evolved into a sophisticated criminal enterprise process with organized fraud rings filing thousands of fraudulent tax returns annually.

Factors Leading to the Growth of Tax Refund Fraud

The advancement of technology has had implications across many facets of TRF. The increase in personal computing power of taxpayers, the evolution of the Internet since the early 1990s, the ability to electronically file tax forms and subsequent growth of third-party tax filing services and the ability to receive tax refunds via direct deposit (including prepaid debit cards) have all been major contributing factors to the growth of TRF. Additionally, the conversion of personally identifiable information (PII) to digital records has created an opportunity for cybercriminals to steal PII in large quantities, as evidenced by recent health care provider and government agency data breaches.

The IRS has offered and allowed direct deposit of tax refunds since the 1980s; however, it never built systems to confirm that deposits were being made to an account of the same name as the tax filer. In 2008, TIGTA reported that “the IRS has not developed sufficient processes to ensure that more than 61 million filing season 2008 tax refunds were deposited into an account of the name of the filer.” In fact, TIGTA found that the IRS was not in compliance with direct deposit regulations. The IRS claimed that it was the responsibility of the taxpayer to ensure compliance — which obviously played into the fraudsters’ hands.

The problem of multiple direct deposits to one account was evident in a 2012 report in which an analysis of 2010 data indicated that 4,157 direct deposit refunds totaling more than $6.7 million went to just 10 accounts.

A corresponding July 2012 TIGTA report recommended that the IRS limit the number of direct deposits to one account. The IRS agreed with that suggestion and instituted a limit of three direct deposits to one account for the 2015 filing season.

A New Trend Takes Hold

Around 2010, a new trend emerged centering around true identity theft. Based on lessons learned from the prisoner tax filing scam, organized criminal groups (OCGs) focusing on TRF began to emerge. OCGs from street gangs to international crime groups learned that they could make a lot money with little risk involved. The OCG would obtain true identity information about a taxpayer, which is otherwise known as “FULLZ” in Dark Web marketplaces. The OCG would then submit a tax return in the victim’s name with fictitious employment and wage documents to support it.

Since two returns cannot be filed for the same person in one year, once the victim would submit a true tax return it would be rejected, alerting them to the identity theft. One of the issues at hand is that the IRS does not reconcile wage documents from individual returns to those supplied from employers until six to nine months into the year. According to TIGTA, the IRS may have paid $5.2 billion in potentially fraudulent tax refunds on 1.5 million tax returns in 2010.

So Where Does One Get FULLZ Information?

FULLZ information is readily available from many places. These include data breaches, retail stores, health care records and more. Once cybercriminals get access to this data, they will then put the information into a website marketplace that allows fraudsters to access any of the data that is available for a price. Many of these websites are in what is known as the Dark Net or Dark Market. The Dark Net listings provide fraudsters with all the information they would need to execute TRF.

If you are a novice or would-be fraudster, there are websites that will provide a how-to tutorial for committing TRF. The pictures below are examples of a few websites that teach people each step of TRF, from getting a person’s PII and opening a bank account in that individual’s name to actually submitting a fraudulent tax return and receiving an illicit refund.

Another important thing to note is that rules, regulations and silos within companies hinder the organizations’ ability to effectively communicate, share information and limit the losses from TRF. However, the bad guys are not hindered by any such rules and regulations. They are free to communicate among themselves about successes, failures and other conditions that will help refine their processes to be more successful. This is usually done in Dark Net chat forums. In these forums, criminals are free to discuss what was successful and what was not.

Technology has made it increasing easy for fraudsters to commit their crimes anonymously. The Internet and phone channels provide areas that can be used to grant anonymity. On the Internet there are many products that provide virtual private network (VPN) services to hide the true identity and IP address of the bad actor; two of the best known are Tor and I2P.

Data Breaches Fuel the FULLZ Supply

All data breaches are not created equally. Some of the large retail breaches over the last 18 months, while significant, do not pose as much of an identity theft risk as the more recent health insurer and government data breaches. Some of the high-profile retail breaches involved payment card compromises, which would allow a fraudster to create and use counterfeit cards. Typically, card issuers will bear losses associated with counterfeit card use, sparing consumers any financial burden. However, data breaches that involve complete PII records of consumers present a high risk of identity theft and TRF.

Until recently, the compromise of full PII data often came from malicious insiders with access to consumers’ information. Insiders at banks, medical offices, schools and other organizations that possess PII help provide access for criminal enterprises. Large-scale data breaches at health insurers and government agencies have provided a tremendous supply of consumer PII to cybercriminals looking to execute TRF.

So far in 2015, more than 100 million PII records have been compromised through health care and government data breaches alone. For example, the IRS announced that the breach of its Get Transcript system may have included the PII of 334,000 taxpayers. Unlike payment card compromises, these breaches may have profound negative effects to individuals for years to come.

IRS Attempts to Control the Issue

In response to TIGTA’s direct deposit concerns, the IRS introduced limits on Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposits for the 2015 tax season. It implemented new procedures about how money would be sent to accounts by ACH and by check. For instance, a new direct deposit refund request limits the number of refunds that can be deposited into one bank account to three. After three deposits into one bank account, the IRS will convert any subsequent direct deposit refund requests to a paper check and mail the check to the taxpayer’s address. Also, the IRS is limiting the number of bank accounts among which a taxpayer can split one refund to no more than three.

These changes were implemented in an effort to curb TRF. However, the reforms did not achieve the intended result because fraudsters adapted their tactics to exploit systematic weaknesses. The issues that arose for the 2015 tax season are twofold:

  1. Workarounds With Tax Preparation Services

The master accounts associated with tax preparation services are a weakness in the system to which fraudsters navigated once the IRS instituted the direct deposit limitations. When an individual files a tax return with a refund through some of the popular tax preparation services, the refunds are often routed from the IRS to the tax preparation company, which then sends it to the individual’s bank and account of record.

Through this method of filing, fraudsters were able to bypass the direct deposit limits. Refunds processed through master accounts do not contain robust event descriptions. The lack of event descriptions means the banks can’t detect and stop these refunds since they have no information from which to validate and match information to the bank account.

  1. Financial Institutions Cannot Help Monitor for Fraud

The direct deposit limits took financial institutions out of the game with regard to being a detection point. An ACH deposit coming from the IRS to a bank contains a robust event description including the name, address and Social Security number of the beneficiary. Financial institutions were in a position to detect suspicious activity of multiple deposits going to one account for the benefit of individuals not named on the account.

As with many regulations and controls designed to stop fraud, there are unintended consequences. As a result of criminals’ ability to adapt to the ACH limitations, they found another way. Their new methods resulted in a higher success rate and increased losses to U.S. taxpayers.

What Does This Mean for the Future?

TRF is expected to increase dramatically for this tax season. According to the IRS, fraud losses will reach a staggering $21 billion by 2016, while just two years ago, losses were $6.5 billion.

Recent large-scale PII data breaches will contribute to the growth of TRF. Although the IRS is making changes to try to limit fraud, there are still structural weaknesses in the process that will allow this activity to continue.

Are There Solutions to the Tax Refund Fraud Issue?

No one solution will stop tax refund fraud, but it can be slowed down and its losses limited. The focus should be on better fraud detection capabilities. The detection process should be built like an onion with multiple layers and parties involved. Proposed cuts of the IRS’ budget by more than $800 million for fiscal year 2016 may make it increasingly difficult for the agency to create a better detection strategy, however.

Limiting the number of direct deposits to one account is a good start. However, financial institutions need to be brought into the detection loop. The refund process via master accounts must be enhanced to the point where the name, address and Social Security number of the beneficiary are included in the event description of the ACH transaction between the master account and the receiving bank. Once that is done, banks can build fraud strategies to identify multiple deposits to one account.

The IRS, financial institutions, tax preparation service companies and card companies should work together to devise and implement detection controls that may allow each party to potentially identify suspicious activity, raise red flags and halt the refund process to allow for identity verification. With a detection process that includes all these parties, there will be three different industries that can review refund transactions at different points in the process. This could significantly decrease the losses that are seen with tax refund fraud.

Additional resources for business accounting tips are available here

The Southbourne Tax Group: Adjustments After Nuptials - Tax Tips!

June had the reputation as being THE wedding month of the year and flowers were everywhere. Now it seems like wedding season goes from early spring to late summer. Whether they’re traditional with a bunch of flowers or have a Harry Potter theme, weddings strive to be a happy occasion for all parties involved and guests invited. They can also, however, be quite stressful! Between trying to plan a wedding, staying within budget, finding the perfect dress and finalizing plans, it can be an overwhelming task! Not to mention that two people’s lives are going to change, so it’s understandable that a few things might fall to the wayside.

While trying to choose the right flowers for the bouquet, which flavor of cake to have, and planning a seating chart, no one really has time to think about everything they need to do after festivities and honeymoon. Besides, who wants to think about name changing forms when a sandy beach with fruity drinks is calling their name? There’s other important things to do, too, like writing thank you notes and trying out all the new gadgets family and friends gave you.

When the fun dies down, though, we’re here to give all newlyweds a friendly reminder of tedious tasks to consider and or do once they’re married. So first things first! Some people really like the whole name change idea that is associated with getting married; you know, at some point we all tried out how our name would flow with some hottie we admired by scribbling it all over our school notebooks.

A new name can be exciting, but keep in mind that for tax purposes, your name, social security number and tax return all have to match. Therefore, take a few minutes to report your new name to the Social Security Administration and file a Form SS-5. Make sure you have a copy of your driver’s license or passport and your marriage certificate because you’ll need them. Lastly, the SSA will take about two weeks to process the name change so try not to make your name change too close to the tax season because data sharing between the IRS and the SSA can be problematic towards the end of the year.

Another tip to keep in mind is to make sure your address is up-to-date if you move after the nuptials. There are some types of federal and certified mail that the postal service won’t forward to a new address. Seems like a no brainer, but for newlyweds coming fresh off a honeymoon and go right into a big move, it can be easy to forget to notify the postal service. Further, report to your employer any name or address changes to make sure you receive your Form W-2 after the end of the year.

Now here’s the nitty gritty; filing a tax return after you’re married. The combined income for you and your spouse could potentially put you in a new tax bracket. If that’s the case, use the IRS Withholding Calculator to see if you need to file a new Form W-4 for your employer. Then, make sure you choose the right tax form to fill out. Being married, you’ll have enough deductions to itemize your return rather than take standard deductions. Finally, decide which filing status will be most beneficial for you.

For most married couples, there’s a lower tax liability for filing jointly, but the married filing separate option could be more beneficial. For instance, if your spouse has past debt with the IRS or another agency, filing separate will prevent any refund the spouse may get from being used to offset the debt. These little details are easy for anyone to overlook, but as they say, the devil is in the details. Making sure things like names changes and filing correctly are taken care of well before tax time will save you from of heck of a headache!

With all of that out of the way, enjoy the honeymoon period and enjoy being blissfully married!

Additional resources for business accounting tips are available here.

 

The Southbourne Tax Group: Red Flags for Audits

The IRS at times seems like a living, breathing entity that’s often the source of bad dreams and stress. With all their rules, regulations, deadlines and forms, the IRS can be a little daunting, and nothing is scarier than the word audit. Often we are asked what are the chances of being audited, how the IRS chooses people to audit, and if whatever change they make in their life will put them on the radar of the IRS. These are all logical questions and completely reasonable to ask.

Unfortunately, the IRS chooses people at random for auditing, but on the other hand, there are some things that can tip the IRS off into auditing you. We’ve compiled a list of things that can tip off the IRS in no particular order that act as red flags so to speak.

-Not reporting all your income

There are numerous ways to receive income outside of what’s listed on a 1099 or W2. You may receive dividends, pension pay from a previous employer, royalties or whatever it may be. The more sources of income you have, the harder it can be to remember to report all of it or easy to overlook it. Any institution to distribute income will report it to the IRS, so make sure you check and double check that all your income has been recorded.

-Breaking the rules of foreign accounts

Foreign accounts sound like something from high budget espionage film, but some people do in fact have them. The law states that it is required for overseas banks to identify American asset holders and provide that information to the IRS. If you have a foreign account, you must report assets worth at least $50,000.

-Burring lines on business expenses

It’s a great tax advantage to be able to write off business expenses, however, the IRS has gobs of data upon data about typical business expenses. In laymen terms, they know when someone is spending more than what the average is. Tax returns showing 20 percent or more above the normal might get a second look. Therefore, always keep proper documentation of all your business expenses.

-Earning more than $200,000

Higher incomes require more complicated returns that tend to contain audit triggers. The IRS audited 1 percent of those earning $200,000 and almost 4 percent earning more. IF you make more than one million, the chance for an audit increases to 12.5 percent. Again, keeping good paper trails and the proper documentation is a must! This isn’t a bad thing at all, just the nature of the beast in this case.

-Taking large charitable deductions

Just like business deductions, the IRS has gobs of data about typical charitable contributions people at every income level usually make. If someone tries to deduct a contribution that’s largely disproportionate to their income level, eyebrows might raise. When donating, make sure you get the right paperwork for your own records and make sure to file a form 8283 for noncash donations over $500.

-Taking an early payout from an IRA or 401k

Red flags get raised if payments are taken out before 59.5 years of age and you can be subject to a 10 percent penalty on top of regular income tax. There are ways to get around the penalty for things like large medical costs and total and permanent disability, but otherwise, it’s best to not touch the pension plans.

If they see a common mistake popping up, the IRS is liable to look deeper into returns if they think those mistakes were made. There are any number of reasons the IRS may look deeper into someone’s tax return for auditing. The list we provided are not the only reasons, but are common reasons. The IRS still keeps it random, probably just to keep people on their toes, but keep in mind the IRS likes to change a lot. With proper documentation and accurate records, don’t worry about auditing!

Additional resources for business accounting tips are available here.

The Southbourne Tax Group: How to Protect Your Identity and Assets

Tax Fraud Awareness

The IRS, taxpayers and tax preparers share a common enemy: identity thieves. We all have a part to play in the fight against tax-related identity theft. Your role starts by learning the mechanics and warning signs. From there, taxpayers can take proactive steps to protect their data online and at home.

Understand How Tax Fraud Happens

Dishonest individuals may steal taxpayers’ personal and financial information from sources outside the IRS, such as social media accounts where people tend to share too many details or bogus phishing emails that appear to come from the IRS or a bank. Once they obtain an unsuspecting taxpayer’s data, thieves may use it to file fraudulent federal and state income tax returns, claiming significant refunds.

Paperless e-filing facilitates these scams: Thieves submit returns electronically, based on falsified earnings, and receive refunds via mail or direct deposit. Sure, the IRS maintains records of wages and other types of taxable income reported by employers, but they don’t usually match these records to the information submitted electronically before issuing refund checks. By the time the IRS notifies a victim that it’s received another tax return in his or her name, the thief is long gone and has already cashed the refund check.

In addition to refund fraud, thieves may use stolen personal information to access existing bank accounts and withdraw funds — or open new ones without the taxpayer’s knowledge. Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and their ploys more complex, making identity theft harder to detect.

Recognize the Warning Signs

Taxpayers are the first line of defense against these scams. The IRS lists the following warning signs of tax-related identity theft:

Your electronic tax return is rejected. When the IRS rejects your tax return, it could mean that someone else has filed a fraudulent return using your Social Security number. Before jumping to conclusions, first check that the information entered on the tax return is correct. Were any numbers transposed? Did your college-age dependent claim a personal exemption on his or her tax return?

You’re asked to verify information on your tax return. The IRS holds suspicious tax returns and then sends letters to those taxpayers, asking them to verify certain information. This is especially likely to happen if you claim the Earned Income tax credit or the Additional Child tax credit, both of which have been targeted in refund frauds in previous tax years. If you didn’t file the tax return in question, it could mean that someone else has filed a fraudulent return using your Social Security number.

You receive tax forms from an unknown employer. Watch out if you receive income information, such as a W-2 or 1099 form, from a company that you didn’t do work for in 2016. Someone else may be using the phony forms to claim a fraudulent refund.

You receive a tax refund or transcript that you didn’t ask for. Identity thieves may test the validity of stolen personal information by sending paper refunds to your address, direct depositing refunds to your bank or requesting a transcript from the IRS. If these tests work, they may file a fraudulent return with your stolen data in the future.

You receive a mysterious prepaid debit card. Identity thieves sometimes use your name and address to create an account for a reloadable prepaid debit card that they later use to collect a fraudulent electronic refund.

Take Preventive Measures

You may wonder how many taxpayers file electronic vs. paper returns. “There are 150 million households that file federal and state tax returns involving trillions of dollars…. More than 90% of these tax returns are prepared on a laptop, desktop or even a smartphone — whether they’re done by an individual or a tax preparer. This is a massive amount of sensitive data that identity thieves would love to get access to.… With 150 million households, someone right now is clicking on an email link they shouldn’t, or skipping an important computer security update, leaving them vulnerable to hackers,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in a recent statement about the Security Summit Group. (See “IRS Creates Security Summit Group” above.)

How can you actively safeguard your personal data online and at home? Here are four simple ways to thwart tax-related identity theft:

  1. Keep your computer secure. Simple, cost-effective security measures add up. For example, use updated security software that offers firewalls, virus and malware protection and file encryption. Be stingy with personal information, giving it out only over encrypted websites with “https” in the web address. Also back up computer files regularly and use strong passwords (with a combination of capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols).
  2. Avoid phishing and malware scams. Be leery of emails you receive from unknown sources. Never open attachments unless you trust the sender and know what’s being sent. Don’t install software from unfamiliar websites or disable pop-up blockers.
  3. Protect personal information. Treat personal information like cash. Don’t carry around your Social Security card in your wallet or purse. Be careful what you share on social media — identity thieves can exploit information about new car or home purchases, past addresses, vacations and even your children and grandchildren. Keep old tax returns in a safe location and shred them before trashing.
  4. Watch out for scammers who impersonate IRS agents. IRS impersonators typically demand payment and threaten to arrest victims who fail to ante up. The Federal Trade Commission recently issued an alert about police raids on illegal telemarketing operations in India that led to the indictment of dozens of IRS impersonators. Remember: The IRS will never call to demand immediate payment, nor will they call about taxes you owe without first mailing you a bill.

Another simple way to prevent someone from filing a fraudulent return is simply to file your return as soon as possible. The IRS begins processing tax returns on January 23. If you file a tax return before would-be fraudsters do, their refund claims are more likely to be rejected for filing under a duplicate Social Security number.

Join the Fight

The deadline for filing your 2016 return is fast approaching. The IRS expects more than 70% of taxpayers to receive a refund for 2016, and it’s on high alert for refund fraud and other tax-related identity theft schemes. You can help the IRS in its efforts to fight tax fraud by watching for these warning signs and safeguarding your personal and financial information.

Additional resources for business accounting tips are available here