How to Send Tax Documents Securely

Below, we discuss how to send tax documents securely, so you don’t find yourself going through never-ending paperwork on a Sunday afternoon.

Step 1: Make A List Of All Tax-Related Documents

You can make any task more manageable with the help of a checklist, no matter how complex the tax may seem. So start by making a list of all your tax-related documents, including your T2, TD1X, L501, and other tax documents.

Making a checklist allows you to keep track of all documents you need to send to your accountant. You can even try categorizing or grouping these documents in any way you want. It is the safest way to mail tax documents because it lets you quickly identify any missing documents.

The last thing you want is to lose a crucial tax document or not have it arrive on the other end. And the best thing about creating this checklist is that you can keep using it yearly. However, you have to update the checklist in the event of any changes in tax policies to ensure the best way to send tax documents.

Step 2: Make Sure To Make Backup Copies Of Your Tax Documents

When dealing with critical tax documents, making backup copies of all the documents you want to send is always safer. It is the best way to send tax documents, especially if you intend to send paper copies of your documents.

Doing so can ensure that you are not left in the dark if or when something goes wrong with your original documents. You can either photocopy the documents or store scanned copies in your computer, flash drive, or cloud storage files you can delete later to free up storage if necessary. But the safest way to mail tax documents is to use a direct mail tool like PostGrid.

PostGrid’s direct mail solution features a detailed activity log that lets you view records of all tax documents you send. In other words, you can access all the tax-related mail you ever send, making it the safest way to mail tax documents.

Step 3: Use Automated Or Hand Delivery

Hand-delivering your tax documents is the most secure and fool-proof way to send your tax documents. But, it is not the best way to send tax documents in terms of practicality. Take the example of one of our clients in the retail and eCommerce industry, for instance.

The client runs a successful eCommerce store in Canada. Keeping the store up and running took the client’s time, and they needed help with their tax form processing. And this is what our Strategic Account Manager had to say to convince the client why using PostGrid is the safest way to mail tax documents.

“The biggest concern for businesses like yours is time. I am not saying that our automated solution is some magic genie to process your tax forms. But, it can make tax form processing much faster and give some wiggle room in your life. And with the high accuracy and error-free direct mail processing PostGrid offers, you don’t have to worry about something going wrong.”

After hand delivery, mailing your tax documents is the best way to send tax documents. With PostGrid’s scalable print and mail API, we isolate the test and live environments so you can quickly test your API calls. In other words, you can see that our direct mail works for your business before committing to it.

Step 4: Fax Your Simple Tax Documents

Faxing may sound like an old-fashioned approach at first glance, but hear us out. Although fax is an outdated system for communication, faxing offers the quick and best way to send tax documents with relatively good security.

Unlike other options you can consider, such as email, fax documents are not easily interceptable by identity thieves. Additionally, scammers and cyber criminals often do not target faxed documents as much as emails. Hence, many organizations are now learning how to send tax documents securely using fax despite having no experience with fax machines.

It is worth noting that faxing tax documents comes with risks or downsides. A common issue with fixing tax documents is that even getting a single digit in the fax number could send your critical documents to a stranger.

And then, there is also the risk of the document becoming unreadable, as it sometimes tends to happen in faxing. For example, the recipient may read a six in the tax document as eight because of readability issues. The last place you want confusing numbers is in a tax document. Hence, faxing is not always the best way to send tax documents.

However, suppose you want to send a few pages urgently for tax-related purposes. In that case, faxing is an excellent choice.

Step 5: Use Encrypted Email

Generally, email is a great communication channel for business and personal communication. Unfortunately, email communication offers several security risks, so you must take all the necessary precautions. Using encryption is the safest way to mail tax documents via email.

On the bright side, there are several options you can consider for encrypting your critical documents. The more advanced the encryption system you use, the less likely your tax email getting compromised. Therefore, even if emails are not the safest way to nail tax documents, they can still be sufficiently secure.

Furthermore, you can take additional measures to protect the integrity of your tax-related emails. Below are some security measures you should consider when emailing your critical tax documents.

• Ensure your tax documents are placed inside an encrypted wrapper (password-protected DOC, PDF, or ZIP file).
• Never keep sensitive information as plain text in the email message body.
• Always double-check the recipient’s details before sending tax-related documents via email.

Step 6: Use A Secure Portal

Another great way to ensure that your tax-related information is safe and secure is to use a secure portal. Secure portals are servers that offer the safest way to mail tax documents so the sender and the recipient can view them securely.

The most significant advantage of using a secure portal for viewing tax documents is its minimal risk. GoFileRoom and Canopy Tax are two secure portals that offer the best way to send tax documents.

The secure portals let you create passcodes for each tax document you share with your accountant. As you can guess, no one can access the tax documents without the correct password.