Faxing

Curious to see what others have setup here as far as faxing goes. Do you use a local telephone company with a fax machine on site or do you use one of the online service subscription services with email forwarding?

My copier has a fax on it, with a separate phone line connected to it. The copier has the ability for me to fax from my computer but I haven’t learned how to do it.

I use an online fax service. I don't have to worry about running out of ink or paper or some fool faxing me War and Peace.

I print what I want and I don't have to scan as much.

Thanks Cathy and Razorback. I just signed up for an online provider for $10.95 a month that includes 50 pages inbound and 50 pages outbound (per month). I don't fax a lot but occasionally need to send out POAs and notice response. The functionality of online works better for me too as it cuts out the middle step of printing for both sending and receiving.

The one I went with appears to be pretty secure (it's HIPAA and PCI compliant) and that was what was concerning me initially.

I send/receive on average about a dozen fax pages per year, and now that I've dropped one particular client, I expect that to go down significantly. I have a 12 year old HP OfficeJet 4-in-1 printer (supported still under Win 10) which I connect manually to my VoIP phone line when I want to send or receive. To receive a fax, I have to know it's coming so I can press the right button, which I prefer (no unwanted faxes, ever).

Cost (incremental)? Zero.

Interesting approach makbo. Very resourceful.

I hate the idea of paying $10.95 a month when I barely fax, but I'd rather do that temporarily than buy a fax machine and VOIP connector or pay for telephone service. The monthly outlay beats the large initial outlay from a cash flow perspective. I even got on Craiglist today because I thought for sure I'd find some bargain bin fax machines (because who needs fax machines anymore). I saw some sorry antiques that weren't going for much less than what was brand new and modern on Amazon.

Right now I'm working out of the home office but that will probably change down the line and also change my approach.

For incoming fax, I have it directly store on the computer so that I can select what I want to print. This saves toner and paper from all the junk faxes. For outgoing I use both paper and pdf depending on the matter being faxed. I have noticed that over the years my fax usage has decreased dramatically. One tax season I did get an online fax service (800#), but that proved moot to some extent because these days you don't have to pay long distance phone charges with most phone providers. I can call anywhere in USA, Canada, Mexico for no additional charge!

Thanks Cathy and Razorback. I just signed up for an online provider for $10.95 a month that includes 50 pages inbound and 50 pages outbound (per month). I don't fax a lot but occasionally need to send out POAs and notice response. The functionality of online works better for me too as it cuts out the middle step of printing for both sending and receiving.

The one I went with appears to be pretty secure (it's HIPAA and PCI compliant) and that was what was concerning me initially.

ManVsTax, which vendor are you using? I send and receive very few faxes per month and pay $16.95/mo (eFax). I'd love to find a more economical solution.

I used to have a split line, where I had one line with two phone numbers: one for phone and one for fax. It worked great with very little cost. Went with another phone provider, who assured me there would be no change to my set up. When they were finished, I no longer could get a split line with separate fax number. They then determined they could not do that. Now my set-up is like Makbo's. I purchased a Brother fax machine (less than $100 I think), and it is attached to my regular phone line. I just have to be in the office to pick up the phone in order for the FAX to come through. Since I use my FAX very rarely (once or twice a month), this works great for me, as there is really no additional cost except for an occasional print cartridge.

I was using OnlineFax.com. Very affordable, $7.99 a month for 500 pages. They were bought by eFax who grandfathered me at $9.99 a month.

I have the option of being notified very email or text when a fax comes in. A PDF is attached so I can read the fax from anywhere.

I went with Concord Fax: https://concordfax.com/internet-fax-service/

Like I previously stated, they appear to be very secure. They're based in Seattle and I was able to get both a sales rep and technical support on the phone in less than 60 seconds yesterday when I had questions and technical difficulties setting up.

You can send fax from email, and also print to fax from a pdf, Word, Excel, etc if you download the plugin, which I've done. Incoming faxes are emailed to you with the fax as a pdf attachment.

Really what I was looking for was security for liability reasons, and also someone that was based in the US. I read too many bad reviews about Indian tech support with some of the online fax companies.

My phone system is through RingCentral, and they automatically provide unlimited fax functionality. It's slower to send than I like, but I fax so little (basically only to IRS), that it doesn't matter. Receiving is convenient, I can access through e-mail or any of the RingCentral apps on my devices, as well as a portal on their website.

Curious to see what others have setup here as far as faxing goes. Do you use a local telephone company with a fax machine on site or do you use one of the online service subscription services with email forwarding?

I have a phone line to a faxmodem in a PC with Windows Fax & Scan loaded. I rarely fax but it's just another printer that you can print to, from say a scanned PDF or whatever you're faxing.

Cost is a phone line but I need to have that one anyway. Windows Fax & Scan is part of the OS but not loaded by default. It's funny how cheap the faxmodems are, I think I paid $9.95. Remember when they were $200?

I have a few private clients that, of course, I service from home. With our internet service the bundle was cheaper with the phone line included. You can hook up a fax to it. I bought a Brother fax machine for about $20. That will be my only expense, unless the IRS opens a PPS line outside North America.

Remember when they were $200?

Yes I do and I still have my US Robotic 14.4K fax Modem in perfect working condition after 25 years!

I have a split line like Seaside used to have and a twelve year old HP LaserJet 3055 that serves primarily as a fax, but is also a scanner, emergency printer and copier. It is great to have a backup laser printer. The split line function costs $6.45 per month.

I find that most of my faxing activity is with lawyer's offices. Around here they feel it is more secure and most will not email a document.

Think about this - regular phone lines are such that it is supposed to require a warrant to "phone tap". It is my understanding that is why landline fax phone lines are considered more secure.

However, once you convert your fax to an email with a PDF attachment, is that how you want to get confidential tax info, including SSN, -- via PDF attachment to an email? Seems like that raises security issues all over again, unless your service is specifically secure for that. I would bet the super-cheap ones are not.

Our office is a combo attorney/CPA office. We will keep our landline fax machine. It also operates as our scanner, another printer and backup copier.

Fair point Joan.

It's more of a cost-benefit for me. I'm out of a home office and don't have a landline. Didn't want to pay to add one and buy a fax machine. Or buy a VOIP setup and fax machine, and run it off Google Voice if that is possible?

Therefore I was just looking for the most secure online option I could find that was affordable.

I suppose we all operate with something connected to the internet in 2018. You're on this forum right?

Yes, we all use internet - even though I frequently really hate it!! (Like why does my scanner keep dropping the connection to my computer??? Gremlins!)

This forum has talked a lot about NOT sending tax info via regular, unsecured email, and this fax method (using fax converted to email with pdf attachment) may be something that people haven't thought all the way through. Sounds like some have looked at the security issues, but a lot of others are only talking price. We need to be sure we are looking at all the issues that may affect us (come back to bite us?) My two cents...

Think about this - regular phone lines are such that it is supposed to require a warrant to "phone tap". It is my understanding that is why landline fax phone lines are considered more secure.

However, once you convert your fax to an email with a PDF attachment, is that how you want to get confidential tax info, including SSN, -- via PDF attachment to an email? Seems like that raises security issues all over again, unless your service is specifically secure for that. I would bet the super-cheap ones are not.

Our office is a combo attorney/CPA office. We will keep our landline fax machine. It also operates as our scanner, another printer and backup copier.

The IRS isn't receiving faxes via a printed copy from a landline number on a traditional fax.

I look at it this way...my storage drives are encrypted, my backups are encrypted, my e-mail is encrypted locally and at server level (and, if I specify such, transmission), my litigation hold is encrypted. My communications system (phone, e-mail) uses TLS and SRTP with all devices. My transmissions that do not require fax, and that contain sensitive data, are all done through ShareFile, either via a client specific folder or encrypted e-mail. I'll readily put my security protocols up against the largest of CPA firms, and I know for a fact they exceed the security and controls implemented by some banks.

Still, your point concerning a middleman fax service is valid. You never know what they may be intercepting. As such, make sure the service provider has a solid reputation with sufficient security measures in place. You're never 100% secure, but you can certainly demonstrate sufficient effort if there does happen to be a breach!

Also, curious...your state allows a law firm to be in same office as CPA firm? It is not allowed in my state, which I have always found rather annoying and idiotic. I have yet to receive what I would consider a valid and logical explanation from state officials as to why this is disallowed.