Five ways to protect against identity theft via tax information

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Five Ways to Protect Against Identity Theft via Tax Informationcontent skip to Fight Identity Theft ProtectionDetectionRecovery HomeBlogAboutContact Subscribe Printer Friendly Share this Page HomeBlogFebruary, 2010-Five Ways to Protect Against Identity Theft via Tax Information

With the new year come new worries about the taxes-what kind of taxes will you need to file before April 15th, how much money will you have to pay, what bracket did you place in, etc. Unfortunately, you also need to worry about protecting your identity. As Privacyrights.org notes, your IRS information returns might constitute an identity thief's "dream."

None of us want to become a "dream" target for any kind of thief, let alone an identity thief. So while you ' re figuring out the right returns to send to the IRS, this is also a great time to take steps to ensure the protection of your identity.

Five Recommendatations for Keeping Tax Info Safe Guard your mail. Once your mail leaves your hands, it's at the mercy of the people who handle it-so make sure you get it in the hands of the right people. Take your sensitive mail directly to the post office and make sure that when you check your mail, you don't leave it in your mailbox-you retrieve it as soon as possible after it's delivered or consider a locking mailbox.

You should also look at a mail service like EarthClassMail.com-especially if you '' re away on travel or vacation.Don 't keep tax information loose around the house or car. Let's face it: there aren ' t many places you'll keep your tax information except a few places, like the house, car, or office. So make sure you don't get cavalier about these locations. Make sure you can lock important documents away at home and that you protect them in your car and office.Only deal with legitimate government organizations. Whether you like it or not, you have to pay your taxes and you have to report your information to the government. But you don't have to report it to just about everybody else, so protect your information by dealing directly with the IRS and worrying less about third parties.Protect your SSN. Your social security number is a big target for identity thieves, and since taxes contain your SSN, you ' re going to want to be careful about making sure they ' re secure. Do a search on your computer for your SSN and archive any documents onto a CD and delete the files from your computer.Keep your accounts and papers tidy. It's harder to guard yourself if you ' re a hoarder with mounds of papers on his desk, so make sure that you keep things simple-this will help you find your important documents, which helps you protect them.

 

February 1, 2010 3 comments Share This Page: Email Facebook Google Twitter MySpace Digg Add a comment3 Comments johnrock Posted 3/2/2010

Thanks for your lovely contents.
Though identity is not always safe your advices make a particular identity safe at very much but at certain point always at risky.
.....................
johnrock

Street Fights

johnrock Posted 3/2/2010

Thanks for your lovely contents.
Though identity is not always safe your advices make a particular identity safe at very much but at certain point always at risky.
.....................
johnrock

Street Fights

Chris Kittell Posted 2/21/2010

Good advice. The only problem is that your indentity is always at risk, no matter how good you are at protecting it. You always are at risk that someone else (a credit card company, bank, mortgage company, etc.) that legitimately possesses your personal identifiers will be less than secure with it.

So, in addition to the tips above, I would suggest knowing what to do if your identity is indeed stolen. You need to know your rights, which is what my blog (www.fcralawyer.blogspot.com) is dedicated to. I have also dedicated my practice of law to representing consumers who are victims of identity theft and/or credit reporting errors.

Thanks again for the excellent post.

Chris Kittell
www.fcralawyer.blogspot.com
www.merkel-cocke.com

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