Tax season is here!

Tax season is upon us once again. This is the time of year that we get our W-2’s together and we do our taxes. Some of you may have already completed your taxes or some like me wait to the deadline. With it now being March it is time for us who haven’t completed our taxes yet to get all of our tax forms together and send them to the IRS. 

With that said I want to let everyone know that doing your taxes is also a great way for an identity thief to steal your identity. If you have your taxes done by a professional company please be aware of who you are giving all of your information to.  Make sure that you use a reputable company. To be sure you can check with the Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org. This website can help you look up a specific business here in the United States or in Canada. The BBB will let you know if there have been complaints against a company you are considering using and how those complaints were resolved. 

Be sure that if you have your taxes professionally done to get the names and information on the company and person doing your taxes. You are giving this company and one of it’s employees not only your name and social security number but also your spouse and children’s information as well. You want to be sure that this company works with you and your family in a secure and private way so as not to release your personal information without your consent. Once an identity thief has your name, date of birth, or even you social security number he or she will be off to the races as far as using your information to purchase what they can before you find out. Most professional tax preparation companies value you and all their clients.  Your privacy is of the utmost importance to them and it should be.  Just be careful on who you choose to do your taxes.

If you choose to do your taxes yourself then, great!  If you use a website to submit your taxes to the IRS be sure the website is secure. I mean that the URL of the website should begin with, “https:www.”  The “s” on the end of the “http” shows you that the website is secure. All credit and banking agencies use a secure website for their clients and so does the IRS. I highly recommend not sending your personal information over a website that is not secure. This allows a hacker to steal your identity and he or she will be off to the races as far as buying what they can before you find out. 

With tax season in full gear just do a little research first and or use a secure website and this will prevent a huge headache later.  If you happen to become a victim of identity theft you need to make a police report with your local police agency and you need to contact the three credit reporting agencies:

 Equifax (www.equifax.com)            Trans Union (www.transunion.com)
P.O. Box 740241                              P.O. Box 1000
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241                   Chester, PA 19022
1-800-685-1111                              1-800-916-8800

Experian (www.experian.com)
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013-0949
1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)

So good luck and be careful this tax season!