Safety is in the Eye of the Beholder
Jun 12 '00
Taxes...now there's something I haven't thought about in at least a month. Rather than go into a length discussion on why tax preparation can be such a headache for most people, here's an opinion on one of the great remedies to that headache---electronic filing.
Regardless of what my clients have done, I personally did not jump on the e-filing bandwagon until two years ago. Call it a generally skeptical personality (from an accountant---who would have thought?) but I wasn't so convinced that my personal financial data was going to make it from my little terminal to the Federal Government's computers without some hacker intercepting it. So I faithfully did my paperwork and left my paper trail until the 1998 filing year.
I decided to take the leap when my mutual fund company of choice, Vanguard, offered TurboTax free of charge on its website. Maybe because I had already entrusted them with my hard earned money or maybe because I finally figured I had nothing to lose (I'm already shopping online and sharing my credit card number with multiple merchants) I felt it was time.
I took the plunge and haven't looked back. The first year was rather refreshing. I admit, grudgingly, that I still filled out my paper form. You know, "just in case". But this past year? I lived on the edge---everything was done on computer, and online even.
And my safety concerns? I don't really have many. As for my information ending up in the wrong hands--as I said before, I shop online regularly. In terms of the fear of my information being public knowledge my credit card number would be just as much of a bother as my tax information. And thus far my clients who have filed electronically for sometime now have had no problems in this department.
Where the federal government is concerned I have seen just as many problems with paper returns as I have with electronically filed returns. In fact, and I'm sure this is because electronic filing is not as prevalant yet, I've had more problems with paper returns. (But, you know, even those have been minimal.)
My last interesting side note...this year as I filed my return I was going out to the mailbox to submit my paper signature form (you are never completely without paper) and as I opened the box I realized the mailman had already been there. And he left my Federal Income Tax Return. So much for a paper trail. I'm not sure what would have happened had I never sent in my signature form, but once again the government proves itself efficient---this time to a faul.
File electronically? Sure. So much in life is computerized, why not your taxes. Just do so through a CPA you have already been utilizing or a website you trust (my personal favorite being one through a mutual fund company you have an established fiduciary relationship with). Or do it yourself using a good piece of software. Skip the mom and pop store fronts and the places that offer to submit your return while you buy a coffee and shop for bait. It's the people inputting your numbers that can be more of a risk than the modem lines your information will travel through.
But that, of course, is just my humble opinion...at least you have until April 15, 2001 to figure it all out again.
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Epinions.com ID:
CPAMom
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Location: Michigan
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 2 members
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