Now that tax season has arrived, your business must address several common risks. Protect your company now and into the future when you take several steps.
Protect W-2s
The W-2 forms you supply to employees contain personal information a thief can use to steal an employee's identity. Safeguard all the W-2s you provide by handing these forms directly to each employee or letting your team know when to expect the forms in the mail.
Additionally, counsel payroll personnel to protect W-2 details. Thieves may contact the payroll department and ask for a list of employees and their W-2 information. If someone in your company releases this information, you could be liable.
If you do discover that someone has tried to scam your business and fraudulently gain W-2 information, contact the IRS immediately.
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The email may promise a refund or require additional personal information and include an attachment you must open and complete. Typically, these emails and their attachments comprise a phishing scam that’s designed to deliver harmful software, malware or spam to your electronic devices.
In the stress of tax season, you or one of your employees may open these emails, but remember that the IRS will not communicate with you via an email. Feel free to contact the IRS and verify the legitimacy of any communication.
Discuss the Security of Your Accountant’s Records
Despite your best security efforts, your accountant may not employ protective measures. Discuss the steps your accountant takes to secure your information, including the data you share via email and the tax returns and information they submit electronically to the IRS on your behalf.
File Taxes on Time
Your business faces penalties and fines if you file your tax return late. File for an extension if you need additional time to compile your data and file your taxes.
Report all
An employee should uphold the confidentiality of information assigned to them by the company and its customers, except when revelation of such information is authorized or required by applicable laws, rules or regulations. “Confidential information” includes all records, non-public information related to the company and its business, customers, or vendors that come to an employee in the course of carrying out the employee’s duties and that can be value to competitors or damaging to the company or its business if revealed.
Naturally, there are different rules involved when it comes to handing out 1099s at the end of the year. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if a 1099 is required for some companies. In these instances, it is best to file a 1099 even if it is unclear whether one is
The IRS may treat tax returns that are lost in the mail as not filed on time,
The first of these threats is Social Engineering. Social Engineering according to Social-Engineer.org (2013), is “the act of influencing a person to accomplish goals that may or may not be in the ‘target’s’ best interest. This may include obtaining information, gaining access, or getting the target to take certain action.” The employees themselves are the area of the system affected by this threat. Social Engineering exploits their naivety. General lack of experience in recognizing this type of attack is a major reason for its success. Education on what Social Engineering is and how to recognize attacks coupled with company policies written, put into place, and enforced to prevent individuals from divulging or even having access to certain information no matter the scenario is the recommended course of action.
This information is being furnished to the Internal Revenue Service. If you are required to file a tax return, a negligence penalty or other sanction may be imposed on you if this income is taxable and you fail to report it.
Personal data should be processed fairly and lawfully, this can be achieved by asking the employees to use their information, on the employment contract.
Although this can make the submission process more efficient, every company is still responsible for submitting accurate C-Forms and B-Forms before the deadlines. If a vendor makes errors when filing the forms with the IRS, the employer is liable and can face penalties. The third-party vendors are also subject to the same requirements applicable to third-party tax return preparers.
Workers who are not prepared in security best practices and have feeble passwords, visit unapproved sites and/or click on connections in suspicious messages or open email connections represent a tremendous security danger to their bosses' frameworks and information. Answer for this issue is, train representatives on digital security best practices and offer continuous backing. A few representatives may not know how to ensure themselves on the web, which can put your business information at danger. It is crucial to hold instructional courses to help workers figure out how to oversee passwords and abstain from hacking through criminal movement like phishing and keylogger tricks. At that point give continuous backing to verify workers have the assets they require. Additionally verify workers use solid passwords on all gadgets. Information burglary is at high helplessness when representatives are utilizing cell phones (especially their
According to The Washington Post Company, "Nearly 60 percent of employees who quit a job or are asked to leave are stealing company data." Company date includes customers' personal information such as name, gender, age and email adress. Stealed information might be exploited. The information is trade secret and a business should keep trade secret (Trade Secret). Therefore, a business must keep customer safe from employees.
Employers have to monitor employees for security concerns relating to intentional or accidental release of sensitive data. Mohl, shows in a 2006 survey by Proofpoint Inc.
This section will touch upon legality of purpose. Certainly, businesses often have a valid concern regarding employees who serve out their contract or are employed at will who then scurry off to a competing company and potentially divulge sensitive information and/or use said information against the prior employer. This can occur with a pre-existing competing company or it can be a solo venture of the person who is taking advantage of the trade secrets or other privileged information. For that reason, employers often
Generally, employers are concerned about the various issues that could transpire in the workplace such as poor performance, viewing of inappropriate and derogatory things on the organization's equipment, lower productivity, and injuries on the job (“Managing Workplace Monitoring”, 2016). Therefore, “employers also have a duty to their employees to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the personal information gathered and maintained in the course of employment (“Managing Workplace Monitoring”, 2016, para. 1). Moreover, the main reason for monitoring employees is solely tied into limiting the amount of litigation the organization can potentially be subjected to. Therefore, to minimize exposure and risk to