Your browser

• Browser test
• Encryption
• Tested browsers

To make sure you can file your client's income tax return securely and confidentially, you must use a Web browser that has 128-bit secure sockets layer encryption.

Browser test

If you want to make sure your browser meets the security standard and settings, click the "Test" button.

This test will verify the current encryption capabilities and cookies setting of your browser. No other information will be accessed during this test.

If you don't have a browser that meets the security standard, you can download and install one onto your computer. Just pick the package you need from our Browser set-up page.

To help us with session management, you must also make sure that cookies are enabled in your browser settings.

If you do not have a 128-bit browser or do not accept cookies, you cannot file your clients' tax returns using either the EFILE On-Line or EFILE On-Line Plus options.

Encryption

Encryption is a way of encoding information before it's transmitted over the Internet. Your encrypted tax data will be decoded on our protected server.

We use encryption to ensure that no unauthorized party will access your personal information. Data from your computer is encrypted before being sent. This changes your data into a format that can be safely transmitted over the Internet. Once the data is encrypted, it cannot be read until it reaches its destination and is decrypted, using an encryption key.

For more information on the security of 128-bit SSL encryption, see our Security Web page.

Tested browsers

Although other Web browsers may also work, the following have proven to work with both EFILE On-Line and EFILE On-Line Plus:

• 128-bit Microsoft Internet Explorer® (version 4.x or higher).
• 128-bit Mozilla Firefox
• 128-bit Safari
• 128-bit Opera
• 128-bit Netscape Navigator™ (Communicator) (version 4.6 or higher; however, you may encounter problems with version 6.0: we recommend version 6.1 or higher)

If you don't have a browser that meets the security standard, you can download and install one onto your computer. Just pick the package you need from our Browser set-up page.

To help us with session management, you must also make sure that cookies are enabled in your browser settings.

If you do not have a 128-bit browser or do not accept cookies, you cannot file your clients' tax returns using either the EFILE On-Line or EFILE On-Line Plus options.

Note
Your tax preparation software or Web application may only support certain browsers.

Notice to Macintosh users
To transmit your tax return through EFILE On-Line and EFILE On-Line Plus, you may have to use a different browser than the one your tax preparation software supports.

New browser versions
Recently released versions have not been fully tested for compatibility with our Web site, and we cannot provide support for these products.