GROWING DATA THEFT FROM TAX PREPARERS

[Lee B]

"Continuing an effort to battle tax-related identity theft, the IRS, state tax agencies and the tax industry announced today that the annual campaign to raise awareness among tax professionals about data security will begin next week.

The 2021 campaign begins as the number of data thefts reported by tax professionals to the IRS continued to climb. Through June 30, 2021, there have been 222 data theft reports this year from tax professionals to the IRS, outpacing the rate of 211 in 2020 and 124 in 2019. Each report can impact hundreds of taxpayers and threaten the tax professional's business."

[Catherine]

Frankly, even 222 from tax pros isn't nearly the issue that breaches from places like LinkedIn and many, many, many other sources are responsible for (including banks, retailers, and financial institutions).  Yes, preparers need to take extreme levels of care - and the low number of instances underscores that the vast majority are being very careful indeed.  

Rather than getting all hot under the collar, I'd recommend that we all review our data security protocols, and make sure our cyberinsurance is up to date!