While there are some risks associated with e-filing, there are benefits as well when completed correctly. E-filing can save you time, money, and reduce the number of errors that used to accompany traditional paper filing methods. You may even be able to get your refund sooner. The risks associated with e-filing are easily avoidable and should be carefully considered this tax season. Here are 5 tips for e-filing your taxes safely.

1. It’s important to know that tax scams and fraud can affect anyone! Every year people are shocked to find that their taxes have already been filed by someone else under their name in order to receive their tax return. Be aware of phishing emails that claim to be sent from an IRS representative or a tax service informing you that your account has been locked and needs your login information. These emails usually carry a malicious download or dangerous link that infects your computer with malware or spyware. The most important thing to know is that the IRS will never contact you via email. They will also never show up unannounced at your doorstep. If a real claim is being filed against you, you will receive a warning letter in the mail first. If you happen to receive an email from a tax service that appears to be fraudulent, it is wise to call and confirm their inquiry.
2. Having trusted antivirus software installed on all your devices will give you the best protection while filing your taxes. It will ensure that no dangerous spyware is able to record your information during the process. Sometimes, scammers will obtain various pieces of information that they need from different devices of yours. Because of this, it is smart to protect all of them with the appropriate software.
3. Make sure you are using a secured wireless network when accessing important information of any kind. Opening any tax-related information on an unsecured network, like those found in public places, may be putting your information at risk of being compromised. Make sure you are only divulging personal information to encrypted sites. These sites will display “https” in the URL, not just “http”. If a financial transaction is being made on the site, there will also be a padlock icon at the beginning of the URL that will verify it is protected. Both of these are symbols that guarantee the site will be securing your information from any third party looking to intercept it. You should also verify the spelling of the website. For example, a popular tax service is TurboTax.com, whereas a hacker may set up a site seemingly similar but the URL will be TurboTaxx.com. You may be surprised that this simple switch could be enough to trick an unsuspecting tax filer.
4. A common mistake made by many is ignoring software updates as they pop up. It’s important to stay up to date with the latest version of your operating system and applications. This keeps you best protected from potential threats as many updates are made after a security breach has been detected. Also, periodically updating your login credentials is a great way to keep scammers away. This is just as important as making sure that your passwords are different from account to account at the initial stages of creating the account. You want to make sure that they are strong, including letters, numbers and special characters.
5. After filing your taxes on a specific device, back up all tax-related documents to an external hard drive and delete the information from this device. This will act as another added layer of protection in case that device should become compromised in the future. This is always a good practice for all of your internet-connected devices that carry important information.

These are some of the ways you can help steer clear of identity theft through tax fraud prevention. Unfortunately, identity theft isn’t always avoidable, but identity theft protection can help you recover from damages. Tax fraud can drastically affect the financial wellbeing that you have worked so hard to preserve. For those interested in building upon their financial health, it’s important to note that this can go beyond just your credit score and investments. It may be time to consider investing in your cybersecurity this tax season.

Employee printing and the use of traditional filing methods to store documents can cost a small business as much as £14,616 each year, according to research by software developers Reckon.

The average UK office worker prints out 6,000 sides of A4 each year; that’s a whopping 500 sheets – or one ream each – per month. Furthermore, there are also the costs of running and maintaining a printer, which average at around £148 per employee for a medium sized business.

Coupling the price of paper and printing with the cost of maintaining filing cabinets, which can be as high as £690**per cabinet in central London, shows just how much businesses are spending in order to manage and safely store documentation.

Reckon, developers of Virtual Cabinet and Reckon One, found that the space taken by a standard sized filing cabinet is typically £360 per year, although this cost is significantly higher in major cities and of course the capital.

A typical filing cabinet takes up more than five square feet of commercial space including the space needed to open and operate the drawers, a significant cost when the average commercial rent of £115 per square foot in London and £60 per square foot in the wider UK is taken into account. Pairing this expense with the price of printing and of course the paper itself, demonstrates just how costly using traditional business processes can be.

Commercial rates are expected to continue to rise at a steady rate, meaning a rent increase of 25% could leave a business in the City of London spending as much as £863 in rent annually for each filing cabinet within the next five years. ONS research shows that office-based employment has grown each year since 2008 and will continue to do so, meaning the need for office space and storage will become greater and that making efficient use of a premises will become all the more important.

Mark Woolley, commercial director at Reckon, said: “The figures we’ve compiled highlight the high cost of printing and storing documents, especially for those in the accounting, legal, insolvency and property sectors. While these figures make for expensive reading, they don’t even begin to include other documentation expenses, such as postage, retrieval of documents onsite and/or off site at storage facilities along with the cost of time taken to manage filing cabinets.

“When every square foot matters in terms of cost and efficiency, it’s important to make the best possible use of an office space. Document storage can take up room which forces business owners to maintain a larger than necessary space and can stop a business from using its floor-space for more productive uses, such as meeting space or even a workstation for a new team member. Likewise a printer and its associated products can be a bulky addition to a tight office space.

“As we continue to move towards more digital ways of working, it’s surprising to see how many businesses still rely on paper documents. The savings made by digitalisation mean that much needed new colleagues can be hired or that the business can even downsize to more appropriate premises that will save serious money on rent.”

Reckon complied the cost of £14,616 using the following stats, which were applied to a business of 50 employees using ten standard size filing cabinets:

• A cost for the rent of the space occupied by the cabinet of £360 per cabinet. This figure takes into account the space used by the cabinet itself, as well as the space needed to open and use the cabinet;
• Each employee printing 6,000 sheets of A4 paper each year;
• A cost of £148 per employee to use and maintain the printer itself;
• The paper used being A4 printer paper at a cost of £1 per ream.

(Source: Reckon)