What Does PRO-TAX’s Bathroom Have To Do With Identity Protection?

(Hint: It has nothing to do with “Squeezin’ The Charmin”)

How PRO-TAX Protects Your Personal Information…And You Can Too!

If you have ever been to a PRO-TAX office and asked to use our bathroom, you probably wondered why we said “no.” It has nothing to do with us being “picky” about who uses our facilities, but it has everything to do with limiting public access to any area where our client’s personal information could be compromised.

Few businesses understand the importance of protecting their client’s identity more than PRO-TAX. We deal with some of our client’s most important information every day and we know you trust us to safely file your taxes.   

I’m sure you have seen dozens if not hundreds of stories about someone having their identity stolen and how much money it cost them.

The IRS has set an ambiguous set of guideline for all tax filing business to follow in an effort to protect your personal and financial information. The problem is the IRS allows each individual tax businesses to design their own client information regulations without much, if any, oversight. This is ONE TIME we think the IRS doesn’t offer enough laws to help the American taxpayer.

At PRO-TAX we feel the direction from the IRS does little to protect you so we set up additional safeguards to reinforce your security. Unfortunately by making extra effort to protect personal information you may have a little less convenience for some of your requests. Besides only allowing limited facilities access, PRO-TAX will not fax or email any tax information without written authorization from our client. We know many clients want the convenience of calling us to fax or mail a copy of tax forms to financial institutions for a loan or mortgage. But we must be absolutely sure our client (YOU) is the one requesting this info.

Here are some other methods PRO-TAX uses to protect your personal information:

• Thorough background checks on all employees regardless of whether they are preparing taxes or answering the phone
• Remote document storage to protect against theft or damage
• Masking social security numbers in all possible areas
• Strict computer access- Only authorized employees have computer-use credentials
• No public access to preparation areas
• Secure and Professional disposal of any old client files or documents. You will never find our client information in a dumpster. We have them shredded on site.

In reality, your information is much safer than when it’s sitting in your own home. We are very proud of the fact that PRO-TAX has never had an employee breach of client information in the history of our company.

PRO-TAX goes to great lengths to protect your identity but there is more you can do to protect your information.

Awareness is an effective weapon against many forms of identity theft. Learn how information is stolen and what you can do to protect yours, monitor your personal information to uncover any problems quickly, and know what to do when you suspect your identity has been stolen.

We highly recommend you visit the Federal Trade Commission’s identity theft site to get more information and tips. 

Armed with the knowledge of how to protect yourself and take action, you can make identity thieves' jobs much more difficult. You can also help fight identity theft by educating your friends, family, and members of your community. The FTC site has a collection of easy-to-use materials to enable anyone regardless of existing knowledge about identity theft to inform others about this serious crime.

You know PRO-TAX will protect you from the IRS, but you may not realize we are just as committed to keeping identity thieves out of your pocket too.