Is It Safe To Ship My Tax Documents?

This is a guest post from a reader. Jody loves to blog and has written guest articles on over 20 different blog sites. She likes to travel and is currently planning her next trip to South America.

Taxes can be immensely complicated. It is imperative that they be done correctly in order to avoid penalties, fees, or unwanted IRS attention. Unless you’re a single person with no dependents, it’s best to have a tax professional process your taxes for you. When I recently moved, I found that I didn’t want to find a new tax accountant. I’d trusted Fred for years. But that meant shipping my tax documents, and I wasn’t sure that was safe. He assured it would be fine.

I know that not everyone needs a tax professional, though. Sometimes a local tax professional will just cost too much. Utilizing the power of the internet you can find remote tax specialists, contract accountants and by leveraging the power of outsourcing, you can even find tax specialists in other countries who will work for much lower comparative wages.

However, if you are in the market for a tax professional, look for one with official designations such as Certified Public Accountant, extensive experience and a portfolio of satisfied customers. Since you’ll be corresponding with your tax specialist; you should insure they reply promptly and communicate often.

But if you are like me, you’ll be mailing your taxes to Fred. So, the big question is: Is it safe to ship tax documents?

The answer is: Yes, with the proper precautions.

Your tax documents will undoubtedly bear your social security number–a number that you want to keep from prying eyes and identity thieves. So it’s best to take these precautions before you ship your documents:

1. Put your documents in between 2 blank sheets of paper before putting them into an envelope/mailer. The purpose here is to disguise the nature of the documents.
2. Send your documents “registered” mail, which will provide you with real-time tracking.
3. Try to make the outside as inconspicuous as possible. Omit anything bearing the words “Tax” or “CPA” from the envelope.

If you follow these steps, there’s no reason for your mail to become a source of interest to anyone.

Before you ship your tax documents, you should confer with your tax specialist to make sure that you’ve included all the necessary documentation. If you’re still leery of mailing the documents, you should see if you can scan and e-mail of fax anything to minimize your risk.

Taxes can be a big source of stress–will you owe? What can you write off? The last thing that you should have to worry about is whether or not your documents will be safe en route to their destination.