Discussion:Dealing with clients by E-mail
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Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Dealing with clients by E-mail
| 7 January 2008 | |
| Hope somebody has some input on this subject. I am aware of some people who deal with their clients strictly through E-mail and snail mail. While I do this with my out of state clients, I have become concerned about vulnerability on the Internet, ie the ability to encrypt. I would like to re-structure my business to strictly E-mail and snail mail but am wondering what it entails. It would be nice to do my business from the back of my yacht while I am cruising the Caribbean! Ha, ha! Just kidding! But I would like to be able to move my residence to another location and not by tied to close proximity of my client base. Any inputs? | |
Bottom Line (talk|edits) said: | 7 January 2008 |
| There was a similar discussion of this a few months ago. I specifically asked about remote access for QB and things such as EFAX and Go To My PC. My husband is retiring the end of May and we've talked about doing some traveling. A decent portion of my business involves me physically going to my clients. I've evaluated my client base and determined which clients could be converted to remote and which ones I would lose. I also do some subcontract work for a CPA and believe that I would be able to increase that. With today's technology and FedEx, we're not as limited as we used to be. Of course, you'll need to evaluate your practice and your plans to determine if the two can agree. | |
| January 7, 2008 | |
| "Discussion:Electronic communication of client info" There are other discussions as well, but watch the dates. The one from 2006 has been superseded already. | |
Donniecastleman (talk|edits) said: | 7 January 2008 |
| I do many of my returns via email and fax, what I will recommend is that you take steps to delete client information out of your email box as soon as possible, but so far I haven't had any problems dealing with theft of client information, just so you know. | |
| January 7, 2008 | |
| Donnie, you raise a good point. I assume when you suggest deleting the information out of the email box, you are referring to the one that resides on the internet (and not the one in Outlook). Some people may not be aware there are various options for how long emails can sit out there. I have mine set to automatically delete after three days, but I manually delete all emails that contain confidential information. | |
Donniecastleman (talk|edits) said: | 7 January 2008 |
| And also, I usually tell my clients to not include their social or at least make it partially obscured, but I'd definitely be all ears to be able to find out how to send client information more securely, the mortgage industry does it all the time as do banks, any ideas? | |
Phil Moody (talk|edits) said: | 7 January 2008 |
| Donnie, any client that wants email info, I get a written, signed info disclosure from them...not secure, may contain privledged info,,,,etc. After that, I assign them a unique password to be used with an encryption program we use. The password we use is numbers and letters, but designed so they can easily remember. The encryption program is not very strong, but it is better than nothing. We probably deal with less than 10% by email that contain sensitive data. Email that does not contain SSN, Bank account numbers etc, we do not encrypt, but we do have two paragraphs of disclosures at the bottom of all emails, the same that we use on formal letters, in order to comply with IRS Cir 230. | |
| 7 January 2008 | |
| PhilMoody: Thanks, I had heard about encryption through Adobe Writer 7, but am unfamiliar with it. What system do you use? | |
| January 8, 2008 | |
| Donnie, et al, you might want to look at the link I posted above. It talks about encryption. I pay about $125 per year for a one-page website and encrypted email server. I don't have to worry about trying to encrypt each document. | |
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