The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) held its 2022 National Tax Security Awareness Week Security Summit from November 28 through December 2, 2022. This week was devoted to informing taxpayers of the latest tax security measures and ways to protect themselves from fraud. The Summit included daily webinars, workshops, and other activities designed to educate taxpayers on the most recent data security trends. In addition, IRS representatives provided guidance and advice on how to recognize potential scams and safeguard personal information. Here are some of the highlights from National Tax Security Awareness Week 2022.
New Threats and Focus Areas
National Tax Security Awareness Week 2022 had a wealth of great topics, and the IRS shared several insightful tips and tricks that we wanted to highlight here.
The first one we wanted to talk about is the recent increase in IRS-related texting scams. These scams (also known as “smishing”) target mobile users and the text messages are made to look like official communication from the IRS. In 2022 alone, the IRS reported thousands of fraudulent domains included in these messages, all aimed at stealing personal and financial information.
Protecting personal and financial information online was a theme throughout the week, and it’s important to remember that mobile devices (both professional and personal) are an often-overlooked online asset. Your smartphone is just a pocket-sized computer, and we often store more personal and financial information here than we do on our home or work computers.
The IRS in their sessions continued to emphasize the importance of MFA (multi-factor authentication, strong passwords, and the installation of antivirus software on all devices that connect to the internet.
Fake Charities Were a Big Topic on Day 2 of National Tax Security Awareness Week
Because Day 2 of National Tax Security Awareness Week fell on Giving Tuesday, it was the perfect time to talk about the prevalence of fake charities and scams aimed at pulling on our heartstrings and our wallets.
Several great tips were shared for validating and ensuring that the charities we think we are giving to are legitimate. The first is a tough but important one: individuals should never allow someone from a charitable organization to make them feel like they are being pressured into donating or participating without having time to do some thorough research on the organization.
You can also confirm that a charity is real in a number of different ways. The first is to look into their contact information. Every legitimate organization (especially those with any tax-exempt status) will have an exact name, address, and website that correlates with the information any charity representative is giving you. And as you do your research, you can use the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search tool (TEOS) to verify whether the organization is an IRS-recognized charity.
It’s also important to use credit cards, checks, or another trusted and traceable form of payment when you give to charities. Legitimate charities will accept these. Fake or scam charities will ask for things like cash, gift cards, or wire transfers. Having a traceable donation payment is also great because you can often use that to claim deductions or credits on your taxes!
Businesses Should Protect Themselves Against Tax-Related Scams
Your business needs to keep its tax information secure, and that often means protecting yourself from within. But it’s also important to only enter into business partnerships or data-sharing contracts with other secure businesses and services.
The IRS website has a wealth of tips and tricks for small and medium-sized businesses looking to increase their security and stay in the loop about the biggest threats against the IRS, taxpayer information, and other sensitive data. You can also see the latest information on the IRS’s Identity Theft Information for Businesses page.
The IRS also urged business owners and leaders during National Tax Security Awareness Week to beware of phishing schemes and other scams. These scams are targeting unsuspecting businesses to obtain their sensitive tax information and then use it to file fraudulent business tax returns.
Businesses and individuals should also pay attention to the security measures their preferred tax professionals have in place. It is standard now for these and other basic security measures to be present:
- MFA – multi-factor authentication
- Use a VPN (a virtual private network) if any of your professionals working remotely
- Written security plan: as a tax client, you likely won’t be privy to this information, but you can always ask your CPA or tax prep provider if they have one in place.
- Implement and update data security and data/disaster recovery plans
- Be up-to-date on all the latest trends in phishing, phone, smishing, and other scams that are affecting tax filers.
- You can even ask your tax professionals if their firm uses the IRS Taxes-Security-Together Checklist.
Bonus Tip: File Your Taxes with an IRS-Authorized E-file Provider
You can also check out more highlights and insights from the week in this IRS article.
What do you think? Are there any insights from National Tax Security Awareness week 2022 that you’ll be adding to your current security regimen for tax filing documents and other sensitive and electronic information? We’d love to hear from you on our social media pages!
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