April 15th is coming up quickly. Are you protecting your identity at tax time? Every year citizens are scammed with fake IRS calls, dishonest tax preparers, phony returns, phishing and more. Identity Guard has great tips on how to protect yourself. You might have read my post I wrote about my son’s identity and social security number having been stolen, things like this happen to more people than you might think.
Filing early is one of the many things you can do to protect yourself. I’ve taken a bunch of steps to protect myself and my family from becoming victim to these tax scams. One thing I’ve did this year is shred my unneeded documents instead of throwing them away. I purchased a great shredder and I’m giving it a work out. Another thing I did this year is I used an actual accountant instead of an online service. I’m not saying there aren’t reputable online services out there, but it is a risk I didn’t want to take.
What are some of the things you can do?
- Don’t send electronic documents unless you know the site is secure.
- Don’t send your tax documents via email.
- Don’t forget to shred all your unnecessary documents.
- Keep you tax documents in a secure, locked location.
Don’t forget April 15th is coming soon! Don’t be careless in the rush of getting things done on time. Protect yourself and your identity.
