Filing Taxes Online

[Merika]

Oh Wow....can you imagine your tax filing (which includes all personal financial information) being hacked online? That's just scary! I don't do online filing....but know lots of people who do.

Since Stone is in this business....do you know if this also affected people who file through tax firms?
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Technology - MacCentral

Hackers breach LexisNexis, grab info on 32,000 people

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

By Paul Roberts, IDG News Service MacCentral
Hackers have compromised databases belonging to LexisNexis and stolen information on at least 32,000 people, according to a statement Wednesday from LexisNexis' parent company, Reed Elsevier PLC.

The hackers stole passwords, names, addresses, Social Security and drivers license numbers of legitimate customers of the company's Seisint division. Seisint collects data on individuals that is used by law enforcement and private companies for debt recovery, fraud detection and other services.

LexisNexis identified the incidents in a review of security procedures and warned that there may be more incidents of data theft, Reed Elsevier said. The incident is eerily familiar to recent revelations about similar compromises at Seisint competitor ChoicePoint Inc., which acknowledged in February that hackers had access to data on 145,000 people.

Reed Elsevier did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

LexisNexis, which acquired Seisint Inc. of Boca Raton, Florida, in September for US $775 million, expressed regret for the incident and said it is notifying the individuals whose information may have been accessed and will provide them with credit monitoring services.

The company also said it notified law enforcement and is assisting with investigations of the fraudulent account access.

Like ChoicePoint, Seisint maintains a massive database of public and private information on individuals, including Social Security numbers, credit histories and criminal records. Seisint made the news in recent years as the data source behind the "Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange," or MATRIX, system, a program to bring together criminal and public records from participating U.S. states.

Bill Shrewsbury, a vice president at Seisint, said that identity thieves used a different approach to breach the company's database than what was used to get ChoicePoint's data, but declined to elaborate.

LexisNexis is taking actions to improve its ID and password administration security, and customer screening, the company said in its statement.

The incident is just the latest in a series of revelations about consumer data being leaked or lost. Those incidents include the ChoicePoint hack and Bank of America Corp.'s disclosure last week that it lost digital tapes containing the credit card account records of 1.2 million federal employees, including 60 U.S. senators.

ChoicePoint, of Alpharetta, Georgia, has also been the focus of intense scrutiny and criticism since it acknowledged that identity thieves posed as legitimate customers to gain access to the company's database of 19 billion public records. Some of the information stolen from ChoicePoint has since been used in about 750 identity theft scams, according to the company.

The company said last week that it is discontinuing data sales to many of its customers, except when that data helps complete a consumer transaction or helps government or law enforcement.

Since disclosing the security breach, ChoicePoint has been the subject of a U.S. Federal Trade Commission inquiry into its compliance with federal information security laws, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) (SEC) investigation into possible insider stock trading violations by its chief executive officer and chief operating officer and lawsuits alleging violations of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and California state law. ChoicePoint disclosed the inquiries in a filing to the SEC on March 4.

[Stone]

Our firm takes more complicated tax clients, we rarley do 1040's, however EA's & CPA get direct filing with a safer data base. As well as H&R block and such.

Every person who enters my firm as an employee has a complex background check and is bonded. So if somebody's "idenity" was stolen our Malpractice insurance would pick up the costs.

Personal taxes are pretty easy and most pople can do them safley themselvs but having a professional usually can be very benificial because they are more up to date on tax laws. We can usually get someone 10- 15% more than HR Block or a non accountant type.

[darkangelism]

H&R block is really just a convienance, they offer instant refunds and that sorta thing, my mom works for them.

[Duke]

I use H & R Block, I thought they were professionals. I know they have to get schooling to be up on the tax laws, or so they say they do.

[Stone]

They are professionals, they have to take a tax course, there are also some accountants there but I think they only do Corporations and LLC's

Am I right DA?

I took the H&R Block test that you have to pass to work there, but I just did that so I could get my filing number.

[Duke]

At any rate, they know more than I do. :?

[darkangelism]

yeah, you have to pass a test to do it, my mom is an enrolled agent which means she is certified by the IRS, not just by H&R block.

[Stone]

I take it she works there year round? Most tax prep's are seasonal

[Star]

my sister in law used to work for H & R block. I get her to do mine and hubby's taxes. We'r getting them done early this year. they'll be done by tomorrow! she gives the finished papaers to me and I send them off by mail. That should shock our government! LOL! We didn't file the last 3 years until earlier this year. That's a LONG story! it really wasn't our fault.

I don't do anything online. My sister in law does her banking online. I jsut can't bring myself to doing that. I don't trust it at all. hackers can get into anything and the thought of someone getting my banking info is very scary! so, i stay away from all that.

[Stone]

I am not filing untill October I owe :?

[darkangelism]

My mom doesnt work year round on taxes, she has to take training and teach training during the offseason.

[Duke]

In Canada you have to file your taxes prior to April if you owe, or so I thought. If the government owe's you then they don't care what time of year you file in.

[Star]

I always thought that you had until the end of April regardless unless you're a business owner, then you have until the end of may. If you're late to file, you pay a penalty and all the interest on the money that you owe them.

They're pretty good with making decent arrangements if you owe. Sometimes they'll even wipe off the interest and penalties just to get their money. They have become more lenient in the past few years.

[Stone]

Here you have to file by April 15th or you can file for an Extension. I will file an extension with an "estimated tax payment" this is the 1st year I have ever had to pay... and it SUCKS!!