Tag Archive for: tax

IRS looks to boost security of federal tax information through computer reviews

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Written by

Dave Nyczepir
Aug 5, 2022 | FEDSCOOP

The IRS Office of Safeguards seeks a contractor to support computer security reviews ensuring outside agencies are protecting the federal tax information provided them, according to a sources sought notice posted Tuesday.

The forthcoming task order, expected in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, will cover preparatory agency outreach, pre-review analysis of areas of concern, automated and manual computer security scans, reporting of results and findings, and responding to agencies’ submissions.

Safeguards verifies more than 300 federal, state and local agencies and contractors are complying with the Internal Revenue Code — when it comes to protecting the confidentiality of and preventing unauthorized access to federal tax information (FTI) — by identifying and mitigating risks of loss, breach or misuse.

“The Office of Safeguards has a need to increase security of FTI and to ensure consistent application of information security standards across all partner agency information systems by obtaining computer security review expertise and ancillary contractor support for the Safeguards Program,” reads the notice. “Safeguards seeks contractor support to optimize its processes, to reduce costs and minimize risk to FTI in possession of agency partners, while continuing to meet all regulatory and agency documented standards and guidance.”

The chosen vendor will also be responsible for risk-based modeling to select agencies for review; methodology updates; and assessing new projects, pilots and legislation.

The notice wants responses from interested vendors offering a fair market price by 3 p.m. EST on Aug. 12, 2022. Safeguards hasn’t decided on a small business acquisition strategy yet.

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Tax Pros Warned of New Identity Theft Threats

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As the battle continues against tax-related identity theft, the IRS, state tax agencies and the tax industry renewed their call for tax professionals to be on guard against new and ongoing threats involving their systems and taxpayer data.

This effort begins next week with the Security Summit’s annual summer campaign focused on tax professionals and taking fundamental steps to stop data theft from their offices. This is the seventh year that the Security Summit partners – the IRS, state tax agencies and the nation’s tax community – have worked to raise awareness about these issues through the “Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself” campaign.

The special five-part series will begin July 19 and run every Tuesday through August 16, which coincides with the dates for this year’s IRS Nationwide Tax Forum. The forum will feature 32 webinars to help educate the tax professional community, and several involve security-related features.

“The IRS and the Security Summit partners continue to advance their shared efforts to protect the federal and state tax systems from identity thieves,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “As we’ve increased our defenses, cyberthieves increasingly turn to tax professionals, especially smaller operations, to look for security vulnerabilities. This is a critical link in protecting sensitive taxpayer information. By taking some basic security steps, tax pros help protect against the relentless efforts of identity thieves.”

This summer’s effort focuses on a reminder for tax pros to focus on fundamentals and to watch out for emerging vulnerabilities being seen for those practitioners using cloud-based services for their practice.

Identity thieves were especially active this past year as they continued to use the pandemic, nationwide teleworking practices and other events as predatory tactics for a variety of scams.

Tax professionals are prime targets of criminal syndicates that are both tech- and tax-savvy and well-funded. These scammers either trick or hack their way into tax professionals’ computer systems to access client data. Even when tax pros think they have client data stored in a secure cloud, lack of strong…

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Responsible Things To Do With Your Tax Refund

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The end of the financial year is upon us. As we all scramble to sort out our taxes and expenses for tax time, it’s easy to be swayed by some of the massive EOFY deals that pop up around about now to try and detach us from our hard earned tax returns. It’s a cliche to buy something fun, like a brand new 4K TV with your cash injection, but there are far more responsible ways that you can spend that money.

The items below are admittedly not the flashiest ways to spend your newfound cash, but they are definitely the safest things that you can do for yours and your family’s future. We’ve compiled a few of the most responsible things to do with your tax refund, so you can kick off the 2023 financial year in the right direction.

Make Big Work Related Purchases

Big-ticket work expenses like computers, tools and software are things that inevitably need to be replaced. In the Australian taxation system, work related items that cost you more than A$300 need to be depreciated over the “effective life” of the item. If you buy these items at the end of a financial year, the benefit on your next tax return will be very small. However, a trick that any accountant will tell you is that if you buy the item early in the year – July or August – that depreciation assessment will cover more time and this causes a bigger deduction on your next tax return.

Audit Your Internet Security

Regularly auditing your tech’s security is the best way to make sure you’re protected. As a work-related expense, a new financial year is the perfect time to get that done and put yourself on an annual security cycle. Whether you work from home or not, chances are you’re going to access some sensitive data on your personal devices. A holistic internet security suite such as PCMag Editors’ Choice Bitdefender Total Security is the simplest way to ensure all your bases are covered when it comes to the online safety of your household. It provides top of the line threat detection with minimal impact on your system’s performance, with some great features like camera/microphone security and an included VPN with a 200MB data allowance per day/device for safe browsing.

An important factor to…

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Martin County officials ‘in the dark’ as to computer issues at tax collector’s office

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Nearly two weeks after a computer issue knocked out most services at the Martin County Tax Collector’s office, notices still hang from every entrance to their offices, informing people that they are “experiencing a network issue that is impacting the functionality of some of our systems.”But so far, the office has not given any information about the network issue.In fact, top county officials told WPBF 25 News even they don’t know what’s going on.“I don’t know,” said Assistant County Administrator George Stokus. “I can’t verify what’s happening at the tax collector’s office.”As the assistant county administrator, Stokus usually knows what’s happening in the county.Not this time.“I’m not so much frustrated. I’m just concerned,” he said. “We stand at the ready to help the tax collector. She’s obviously going through something.”Stokus provided a timeline of information of what county officials know.He said the tax collector’s office first alerted the county on Oct. 17 that their system had been hit by something called Blackbyte ransomware, which knocked out much of their network.The tax collector’s network is separate from the county’s, but county officials still have been actively checking to make sure their network is secure, which they said it is.“We’re trying to protect our assets and our property and our users and, ultimately, the Martin County resident,” Stokus said.The next update to the county came from an independent computer security firm hired by the tax collector.That update retracted the initial alert saying the attack came from Blackbyte ransomware, adding the source of the problem remained unknown.But aside from the notices on the doors and a few posts on social media, there has been no information from the tax collector’s office.Stokus said all he can do is focus on keeping county networks secure and hoping for the best for the tax collector.“We’re just like you,” he said. “We’re kind of sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see what the tax collector’s going to do. Because this still continues to be a security issue at the tax collector’s office.”Repeated efforts to reach tax collector Ruth…

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