Hide social security numbers
You can create a password to control staff and/or other preparers outside of the United States from viewing social security numbers (SSNs) in UltraTax CS.
There are IRS regulations (§7216) for disclosing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to preparers located outside of the United States. To comply, you can create a password to control which staff can view SSNs in UltraTax CS. You can also do this as an added layer of security if you don't want to give certain UltraTax CS users access to SSNs.
When you create this password, UltraTax CS will prompt all users to enter the password when signing in. If someone doesn't have the password, they can bypass it and run UltraTax CS in a restricted mode. Restricted mode means:
- Everywhere a SSN would typically show won't appear or will be masked.
- You can't print government copies or any other copies that need the SSN to print.
- You can't e-file returns.
- You can't open CS Connect, Data Mining, Client Communications, and the Electronic Filing Status.
- Fields where you need to select a SSN (like the eligible student information) won't be available.
caution
Creating a password to restrict SSNs will disable data sharing for the entire firm, regardless of who has the password.
- In UltraTax CS, go to theSetupmenu.
- SelectSecurityand enter, or create, the master password.
- Mark theRequire a password to display Personally Identifiable Information (PII)checkbox.
- Enter and verify the new password. This can't be the same as the master password.
- SelectOK.
- Give the password only to those allowed to view SSNs.
This will only apply to this year of UltraTax CS. If necessary, you'll want to restrict access to SSNs in other applications and other years of UltraTax CS.
