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Preparing for the Tax Season

Published on: January 8th, 2015

We have barely finished creating our lists of New Year’s resolutions and before we know it, the taxman will cometh. Considering the entire time-consuming process, January is not too early to start planning for that April 15^th deadline and the rest of tax season.

How to Prepare For Upcoming Tax Season

Tax season is upon us! Get ready with the following strategies.

Cybercriminals Follow the Taxman

Nobody looks forward to tax time, but at least the online filing process has made it so much easier. Unfortunately, online filing has become complicated by the fact that the taxman is now closely followed by an array of cybercriminals, hackers and identity thieves.

In 2013, the IRS mailed out $4 billion in refund checks to identity thieves that had defrauded 1.6 million taxpayers. The Justice Department has warned both consumers and businesses alike that aggressive scammers engaged in online identity theft have been linked to international criminal organizations. The Department of Homeland Security is strongly encouraging taxpayers to be proactive and follow online security practices.

Tips for Improving the Efficiency of Your Financial Processes 

Tax season actually provides the perfect opportunity to examine your business’ financial processes and record keeping. Perhaps it’s time to overhaul your financial systems? Many small businesses efficiently handle their daily finances, record-keeping and tax preparation with a software product such as QuickBooks. Consider the following QuickBooks features:

• Know where your business stands by checking your profit and loss statements plus your balance sheet with just one easy click.
• Stay in sync with your bank and automatically download and categorize bank and credit card transactions.
• Easily track your expenses for tax time and use mobile apps to photograph and record receipts with your smartphone.
• Run your employee payroll and file payroll taxes.
• Email customized professional invoices with company branding and accept mobile payments.
• Record and pay bills from vendors and schedule recurring payments.
• Automatically backs up your data every day with bank-level security.

Online Security Guidelines During Tax Season

Cybercriminals use tax season as a prime opportunity to take advantage of weak online security. When you are sharing tax information, financial data and identity information with anyone at any time, safeguard your online security with the following steps:

• Only share business data and personal information via a secure network. Only use a network that is password protected. Never transfer information over a network that is publically available. Never conduct online activities such as tax filing, banking and shopping over an unsecured wireless network.
• Back up your data and store your electronic tax files securely. Use a strong password to protect the files.
• Never e-mail your financial information or send as an e-mail attachment.
• Use online encryption software. Check that the sites you are using have secure http addresses to ensure security during the transmission of sensitive data.
• Use a reliable firewall to prevent outsiders from accessing your private network.
• If you are working with an accountant, inquire about what security measures they have in place to protect your personal information.

Make a New Year’s Resolution to Improve Your Business’ Financial Efficiency and Online Security

Does your business have a list of New Year’s resolutions for 2015? Is increasing the efficiency of your business’ financial processes a goal for the year? Computer Troubleshooters can help you increase both the efficiency and security of your business’ financial processes. With tax season upon us, it’s an ideal time to reevaluate your business’ financial systems. Give your local Computer Troubleshooters office a call and one of their technology professionals will be happy to evaluate your current financial and data security practices.