Houston Tax Preparation Tip: 5 Ways to Protect Your Identity This Season

3. Protect Your Records

This is a bit of a no-brainer, but there are many scammers who get their information simply by taking it from either hard copies or over the web. In the case of hard copies, this can be done by rifling through your files at work, going through your trash, and even looking in mailboxes during tax time to intercept letters headed to the IRS – so be sure to mail your return from an official post office mailbox, i.e. the ones that can’t be opened by passerby’s.

Online, you can protect your records by not clicking on mysterious links, not using public wifi to check sensitive information, and using secure passwords, i.e. not “password” or “password1.”