Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is defined as any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual ' s identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information. In a payroll context, protecting PII is essential to prevent identity theft and comply with data privacy laws. Common examples of PII include bank account numbers (Option A), home addresses (Option B), Social Security numbers, and legal names (Option D). These data points are specific to a single individual. While marital status (Option C) is collected for tax withholding purposes (Form W-4), it is generally not considered PII on its own. Many people share the same marital status, and knowing it does not uniquely identify a person in the same way a Social Security number or a private address does. Payroll departments must implement strict access controls and encryption to safeguard PII throughout the processing cycle.