It's an option but not the best one!

In my day job I'm a retirement planning consultant. Starting this year, most of our clients have to file their pension returns electronically. My guess is that it's an effort by the Feds to migrate toward paperless filing. Before they can electronically file a return, our clients have to go to a specific Department of Labor (DOL) Website and register for electronic “signing credentials” which consists of a user ID and PIN number.  The registration process is pretty straightforward and easy and the information the DOL requires isn't all that detailed or too personal. That said, there is the occasional client who is not Internet savvy and for whom this registration process literally scares them into a panic. The beauty of this system is that once I upload their return to the DOL server using our credentials, all they have to is log-on to their own DOL account and simply input in their ID and four digit PIN and the form is signed. I can then submit it on their behalf with the click of a mouse.

In an effort to “help” those clients for whom have no Internet connection or who are too scared to sign up for an ID and PIN, the DOL has recently allowed us consultants to electronically sign the forms on behalf of the client using our own ID and PIN. The drawback of this method is they need to sign a waiver form “giving” us “permission” to sign on their behalf. Sounds simple enough but there is a catch. In order for us to upload our electronically signed form to the DOL server, we need to have the client physically sign a paper copy of the form then return that signed copy to us. We then have to scan the paper form into our computer, save it as a PDF file, then attach their physically signed form to the electronic filing when we upload it. The problem I have with this method is that once on the DOL sever, the form and the PDF attachment are open to public inspection. This means that the clients business information (name, address, phone number etc.) as well as his physical hand signature are all visible for the entire world to see.

With identity theft on the rise, I see having ones handwritten signature open and visible to anyone with an Internet connection a dangerous option especially with all the other info the form has to offer being visible too. I guess this is the price one pays for not getting their own ID and PIN.