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Alert: It's Tax Time. Take These
Extra Precautions with Your Mail
During the month of January, check your mailbox
for information notices from organizations that have made taxable payments
to you during the previous year. The most well-known information notice is the W-2
form which reports your taxable wages. Another common information
notice is the 1099 which reports payments of interest, dividends, unemployment
compensation, Social Security benefits, and pension income.
While these information notices are essential
for preparing your taxes, they also are a treasure trove for identity
thieves. A typical information notice has your non-truncated Social
Security number as well as the name of your employer, your bank, mutual
fund, or stock broker. Some
payers also include your account numbers on the notice, creating a gold
mine for identity thieves.
Here are some suggestions to help prevent these notices from getting
into the wrong hands:
- Use a mailbox that locks or consider having your mail sent to a Post
Office Box.
- Try to retrieve your mail as soon as possible
after it has been delivered. Never
leave it in your mailbox overnight.
- If you go on vacation, have your mail held at the Post Office, or
have a trusted neighbor retrieve it.
- If you have moved during the year, notify
any payers of your new address. Do not rely on the Postal Service’s
change of address service
Here’s an additional tip for when you are ready to file your tax
return. Mail it at the Post Office or at an official USPS blue
mail collection box before the last collection time. Do
not put such mail into a mailbox if there are no more pickups that day.
In other words, don't leave your mail in
a collection box overnight. (Thieves have actually been known to steal
the entire box by chaining it to a pickup truck, yanking it off its
moorings, lifting it into the truck bed, and speeding off into the
night.)
Never leave important outgoing mail in your
mailbox or at any other unsecured location for your letter carrier to pickup. Anyone
might come along and steal your mail along with your personal information.
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