News
Protecting Your Identity: Steps To Take In A Vulnerable Environment
An estimated 143 million American consumers might have been affected by the Equifax data breach that made headlines last week. The situation offers a sobering reminder that personal identity theft remains one of the most prominent vulnerabilities consumers face in an economy that leans heavily toward sharing of personal information through online communications and commerce.
[ezcol_2third]Regrettably, the Equifax breach is not the first and will almost certainly not be the last incident of its kind, despite the diligence of financial institutions, governmental entities and businesses to ensure the security of consumer information.
What Can You Do To Protect Yourself And Your Family?
Maintaining a heightened sense of awareness about your personal information is a theme that has evolved in the wake of the Equifax breach.
This CNN Money article offers five important tips about protecting your personal information. Those tips include checking your credit report annually, placing fraud alerts on your credit report, maintaining diligence with regard to bank accounts and credit card statements, subscribing to credit monitoring or identity theft protection services and, in some cases, placing a freeze on your credit if you believe your personal information has been compromised.
I Have Detected Fraud With My Personal Information. Now What?
Diligence is a key to protecting your personal financial information. Immediately reporting any indication of fraud to your bank, credit card issuing company or other business is the best way to ensure the issue is handled appropriately. Additionally, frequently updating account passwords provides another important level of protection.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hosts a website designed to help victims of identity theft. IdentityTheft.gov provides tools and resources for reporting identity theft and implementing a plan of action to address the issue.
An Update About The Equifax Breach
Equifax has established a website that provides progress updates about its efforts following the breach, including clarifications regarding various news reports and other information that circulated last week as well as services the company offers to affected consumers.
Our Commitment
WK places the highest degree of value on relationships with our clients and the personal information shared with us. Our policies related to network security and the protection of all client data are monitored continuously. We will provide additional updates, as needed, with regard to this important issue.
Please contact your WK advisor at (573) 442-6171 or (573) 635-6196 to discuss the impact of data breaches on your personal financial situation.
[/ezcol_2third] [ezcol_1third_end]
PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS SHOULD BE REVIEWED TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH BBA. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently re-released proposed regulations implementing the centralized partnership audit regime, which was enacted on November 2, 2015 as part of the Bipartisan Budget Reduction Act of 2015 (BBA).
MISSOURI SALES TAX UPDATE: DELIVERY CHARGES. On July 5, 2017, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens signed into law Senate Bill 16, which exempts from Missouri sales and use tax “usual and customary” delivery charges that are stated separately from the sale price of retail sales.
ACCOUNTABLE TRAINING WORKSHOPS. WK is offering two FREE AccountAble training workshops in September.
[/ezcol_1third_end]