What is the minimum information someone would need to know about me to wire money out of my brokerage account?

Question

I'm doing my taxes and preparing my own statement in lieu of a 8949.

My broker has provided me with a statement that has a lot of information on it. My first thought was just to mail the statement to the IRS, since it already has all the info on it. But then I was thinking that maybe there is enough information on that document that some IRS minion could drain my account.

So now I'm curious.

If I'm keeping these in plaintext on my laptop I should probably encrypt the drive. Paranoid or cautious?

Answer 1

I would at least encrypt the part of the drive you keep forms like that, but not to protect myself from the odd villain who works for the IRS.

Your broker does report your capital gains to the IRS, whether in sales or dividends.

I received a bill last month from the IRS for dividends I forgot to report on my 2013 return. The bill contained a partial duplicate of my 1099-DIV form from the brokerage, and included account numbers and SSN. Therefore it's safe to say IRS employees don't need to hack your laptop in order to get that info. :)

As for minimum information, it depends on your broker. Call them and ask; they'll tell you everything you need to know. Vanguard, for example, has some security questions, among other things.

Answer 2

What is the minimum information someone would need to know about me to wire money out of my brokerage account?

In today's world, there could be sufficient info on the statement that can be coupled with info available in other sources and together this info in wrong hands could be an issue.

I should probably encrypt the drive.

Yes it does make sense