Using A Portal For Document Exchange

Throughout the year, and especially at this time of year, tax preparers are exchanging documents with clients on a daily basis which is why it is vital to keep such document exchanges secure.  Most of these documents include very sensitive information, making it imperative that as their accountants, we do the due diligence necessary to secure their information.

Text messages or an email attachment that is not encrypted with a password is extremely vulnerable to interception by identity thieves.  Since many of our clients do not think about the need for such encryption or may not have the capability to create such encryption, it is vital for us to offer a secure and simple method for our clients to send sensitive items, such as driver license images and other documents that contain Social Security numbers and similar information.

It’s important that we provide a secure portal to allow clients to upload and send scans or pictures of sensitive tax information and documents because the secure portal uses encryption to protect files that are uploaded to and downloaded from it.

If you already have tax software, a secure portal might already be available or part of the purchase of the annual tax software.  For example, Intuit offers a secure portal as part of the purchase of the ProSeries and Lacerte packages.

If you do not have a secure portal available as part of the purchase of tax software, there are stand-alone secure portal providers, such as CCH Axcess Portal, Secure File Pro and Citrix ShareFile.

You and your clients deserve the peace of mind that comes with using a secure portal for document exchange.

Source: M + O = CPE