Lawmakers ask DOJ to prosecute tax prep firms for sharing customer data with big tech
Lawmakers ask DOJ to prosecute tax prep firms for sharing customer data with big tech
Democratic lawmakers are asking the Department of Justice to prosecute major tax preparation firms for sharing customers’ sensitive personal and financial data with Google and Meta, the latter of whom they say used the information for advertising and to train its artificial intelligence algorithm.
While Treasury did not name the tax prep companies, the lawmakers say that a July 2023 Congressional investigation showed TaxSlayer, H&R Block, TaxAct and Ramsey Solutions are the responsible firms.
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The Meta and Google pixel code allegedly gathered data including income, filing status, deductions, exemptions and refund amounts from millions of the tax prep firms’ customers, according to the lawmakers.
So yeah, fun times! I used taxact for a couple of years.. hopefully we get some sort of reimbursement for this flagrant misuse of personal information, but we probably won’t.
I’d settle for those companies going bankrupt, and the whole tax prep sector failing entirely, shifted instead to getting a bill automatically.. probably also won’t happen, but one can dream.