www.taxprofessionals.com - TaxProfessionals.com
Posted by Esther N. Phahla, CPA, A Professional Corporation

Tax Practitioners Are Warned To Safeguard Client Data - How to Protect yourself

Tax Practitioners Are Warned To Safeguard Client Data - How to Protect yourself

All tax professionals in the United states of America regardless of being a part of a big accountant firm can be a target of cybercriminals. Due to this reason, tax practitioners are recommended to take care of their clients data. They have to take care of the fact that the personal information of the client is not misused. 


For this reason, you could either get a good book keeper who would take care of your dealings and not let your secrets spill. Apart from that, you can also find a good tax preparer who will maintain your accounts. 


A good tax preparer will make sure that all the taxes are not misused and that their clients data is protected. In the United states of America, cybercriminals are very common and almost all kinds of tax professionals are under their threat no matter how experienced they are. 


What do the cybercriminals do?


Cybercriminals are individuals who are responsible of committing cybercrimes. Cybercriminals make use of computers as their tool to achieve their target. The most common thing which they do is to hack the email id’s and other important information which they then misuse.


It is very important that if you are making online transactions or making international payments, you need to logout of the website as soon as you are done with your work. Apart from that, you should also be careful about not sharing account details with anyone on the social media. You never know if it is a friend or an enemy. 


Often we hear cases of theft in which the cybercriminals win in their objective of getting what they want. Cybercriminals steal the clients data and then make use of the data. Infact they misuse the data and file tax returns which are impossible to then find out. 


They use tricks and hypnotize people in to confiding in them their email addresses, passwords, e- services passwords and other important information in order to get full control of their personal data. 


How are tax preparers affected and is it better to have a tax preparer?

Cybercriminals are unavoidable and impossible to resist. Each and every day the number of data breaches is increasing which in turn is increasing the stealing of personal client data. This not only causes problems for the client that their personal information is misused, but it also causes issues between the client and their employer. It affects their personal relation and causes rift between the two parties. 


However, if you have a good tax preparer at your hand, you can avoid this issue to its extreme. If you are unaware of the regulations of the social security taxes or are about to approach the age of retirement, it is better to contact a tax advisor. These tax advisors, tax preparers or tax accountants are known for their jobs regarding all matters of tax. 

These tax advisors will look in to the possible implications about the taxes which you have to pay and advise you good about it. Apart from that, if you think that you are capable enough to deal with the social security tax issues, then you can also look up in the internal revenue service publication 915. This will easily help you if you want to calculate your tax liabilities. 

Apart from this, these tax preparers are responsible for maintaining your tax issues. They will take full responsibility of your data and will not let your personal client data to be misused or stolen. It is much better if you get a tax preparer.


Be careful of cybercriminals


Although, cybercriminals are a threat to every tax professional and are quite dangerous one has to take care himself. Leaving the entire business and not being careful can be a foolish act about which you will have to be careful. 


You have to be extremely careful about not sharing your personal information to anyone as it can cause you a lot of problem. Anyone can misuse your data and that can be dangerous for you. Big businesses have to be more careful as they perform a lot of transactions daily and are involved in a lot of tax related activities. 




Esther N. Phahla, CPA, A Professional Corporation
Contact Member