PRIORITIES

AARP Tax-Aide Priorities

Budgets Training E-Filing

Reimbursements Security

Accuracy Developing Leaders

Certification Donations

Recruitment TaxWise TWO

WHAT ARE THE TAX PAYER’S PRIORITIES?

The site is close, safe & has adequate & free parking.

It’s open on convenient days & hours & I will get finished quickly.

The counselors are knowledgeable, friendly & helpful.

They know the tax laws & my return will be done correctly.

Accuracy Obviously more important than convenience.

Don’t want letter from IRS.

ACCURACY- HOW?• Counselors are well trained.• Counselors are certified• We utilize computers at most sites which

Eliminates mathematical errors.Automatically fills in many fields.Warns us if return not complete.

• We do a quality review of each return.• We know quickly if return was accepted.

What happens when we make a mistake?

1. IRS never finds it.2. IRS finds it shortly after filed & sends letter.3. IRS finds it much later, sends letter & charges

interest & penalties.

How is the Tax Payer affected?

What’s the next important TP priority?

Is the site close, safe, & have adequate free parking

Is it open on convenient days & hours, & will I get finished quickly

Are the counselors knowledgeable, friendly & helpful

Do they know the tax laws.

SECURITY

WHY?

IDENTITY THEFT

“Rutgers.edu reports that identify theft is one of the nation’s fastest growing crimes and further adds that the Federal Trade Commission estimates that 27.3 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last 5 years including 9.91 million people, or 4.6 % of the population, in the last year alone. Someone’s identity is stolen every 5 seconds the report maintains.”

Do we address Identity Theft & Security? Pages 12-15 of Policy Manual devoted to security &

includes:Standards of Conduct Information not shared

No TP info by regular mailReturns prepared in front of TP

All equipment encryptedAll returns deleted

Password protected

Pages 12-15 of Policy Manual devoted to security & includes:

Most include anti-virus & firewall software.Should use networking

No data on site owned computersNo sites in homes

Stored in secured & locked locationDon’t leave in car

Turn off when on breakMinimize taxpayer date being overheard.

PLUS

We are increasing the use of TWO.We no longer keep 8879 & associated TP data!

****• Physical paperwork accounts for 43% of all

identity theft!• 37% of ID theft victims had their SS number

stolen!

SECURITY SYSTEMS

“In most security systems, the “weakest link in the chain” is the most important. The situation is asymmetric since the ‘defender’ must cover all points of attack while the attacker need only identify a single weak point upon which to concentrate.”

Could we have a weak link?

US“ The key difference between security

and reliability is that security must take into account the action of people attempting to cause destruction.”

i.e. identity theft

How might ID theft affect the TP?• It can take up to 5840 hours to correct the

damage of ID theft. The average victim spends 330 hours.

• 1/3 of ID theft victims take 4-6 months to correct the problem, 23% take 7-12 month.

• On average, ID victims lose between $851 to $1,378 out of pocket trying to resolve ID theft.

• Dollar amount lost per household avg. $1,620.• 47% of victims have problems getting loans.

How might ID theft affect the TP?

• “Identity theft can significantly traumatize anyone because it is unnerving to know, or not know, the extent of the damage to your name, credit, or reputation.

• There have been cases reported where it has taken victims years to restore their credit and good name, and had problems being able to cash checks, obtain loans or even rent an apartment.

DON’T BE THE WEAK LINK!

THE END