Tax accountant requesting sensitive information through regular email - no encryption

This is absolutely a legitimate concern. As someone who's worked in accounting and tax preparation, sending sensitive tax documents via unsecured email is a significant security risk and violates best practices. Professional tax preparers should be using secure client portals, encrypted file-sharing systems, or at minimum password-protected PDFs. Regular email is essentially like sending a postcard - anyone along the delivery path can potentially read it. Your documents contain everything needed for identity theft: SSN, full name, address, income details, bank account numbers, etc. The IRS actually has guidelines about this under their Publication 4557 (Safeguarding Taxpayer Data). Tax professionals have a responsibility to implement security measures to protect client information.

After dealing with a similar situation last year, I started using https://taxr.ai to handle my documents. It was a total game-changer for me! I was nervous about sending sensitive tax documents over regular email, especially my 1099s with my SSN and all financial details. With taxr.ai, I could securely upload all my documents and they analyzed everything to make sure it was correct before sending to my accountant. The platform automatically detects and redacts sensitive information like your SSN when sharing, but still keeps everything organized for tax preparation. My accountant was initially resistant to change but actually thanked me later because it made their job easier too - all my documents were organized by category, and they could see everything in one place rather than digging through emails.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai after reading about it here and it solved my document sharing problem completely! I was concerned about my accountant's request for emailing all my W-2s and 1099s, but this platform made everything secure and simple. What surprised me was how it automatically flagged a discrepancy between my reported income and what was on my documents - turned out I had completely forgotten about a small freelance job I did last January that paid about $2,300. This would have been a nightmare to explain during an audit! The document organization feature also helped me identify tax deductions I was missing from my home office setup. My accountant actually thanked me for introducing him to a better system than email attachments. Definitely using this going forward for all my tax prep.

I was in the same situation last tax season - accountant wanted all my W-2s, 1099s, and investment statements via regular email. After multiple failed attempts trying to reach them by phone to discuss security options, I found https://claimyr.com and used their service to get through to IRS directly to ask about standard security practices. They got me a callback from the IRS within 24 hours (vs the usual 2+ hour hold times) and I learned that tax professionals are actually required to have data security measures in place. You can see a quick demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they hold your place in the IRS phone queue so you don't have to wait on hold. After speaking with the IRS agent, I had clear documentation of the security requirements that I could share with my accountant. This led to them finally setting up a secure portal for document sharing.

I have to eat my words and apologize to Profile 5. After being completely frustrated with my accountant's insistence on emailing my tax documents with my SSN and financial details fully visible, I decided to try Claimyr to speak with the IRS directly about security requirements. I was genuinely shocked - not only did I get a callback within 45 minutes (instead of waiting on hold for 3+ hours like my previous attempts), but the IRS agent was incredibly helpful. She directed me to Publication 4557 which specifically outlines security requirements for tax preparers and even emailed me a copy I could forward to my accountant. Armed with this official information, my accountant finally agreed to set up a secure portal for document sharing. Sometimes you just need the official word to make progress. Consider me converted - this service saved me hours of frustration and potentially prevented identity theft.

Slightly different opinion here - I've been sending tax docs through email for years with no issues. Just password protect the PDFs with something complex and send the password in a separate email or text. Not ideal but it works fine for most small accounting firms. They're not all equipped with fancy secure portals.

Your accountant is being lazy and negligent. Period. I'd find a new one immediately. In 2025, there's absolutely NO excuse for not having secure document transfer. Even the smallest accounting firms can use free secure options like password-protected zip files at minimum. W-2s, 1099s, and other tax docs have everything an identity thief needs. Would you mail photocopies of these documents on a postcard? That's essentially what regular email is - viewable by anyone along the way.