It has been reported that some of the biggest online e-filing services have been sharing user financial information with Meta. Detailed information about income, refunds, filing status, and even the amount of college scholarships can be found in some services.
H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer transmit data via a tool that Meta provides for businesses called the MetaPixel The data sent to Meta by these companies was sometimes generated and shared regardless of whether the person used the tax filing service or not.
Businesses can use the MetaPixel as a code that they can use on their websites to gather information that can be used to improve their marketing campaigns. In return for this service, Meta gets to use the shared data to drive its own algorithm in order to know everything that can be known about its own users.
The IRS declined to comment on whether tax preparers shared sensitive financial information with Meta.
H&R Block was going to review the information revealed by The Markup, according to the company's spokeswoman. She told Ars that the company has decided to change how they use the MetaPixel.
H&R Block takes protecting its clients' privacy very seriously, and they are taking steps to mitigate the sharing of client information.
AdvertisementH&R Block and TaxSlayer were evaluating their use of the pixel, according to a TaxSlayer spokesman. Richardson confirmed that the pixel would be removed until TaxSlayer completed its review.
The data from tax services was reviewed. According to its reporting, TaxSlayer no longer has thepixel on its site, and TaxAct isn't sending income and refund amounts to Meta but is still sharing data about dependents. Health savings accounts and college tuition grants were still being shared by H&R Block.
Nicole Coburn is a spokeswoman for TaxAct. She said that Tax Act tries to comply with all IRS regulations.
Businesses can't share information about an individual's financial account or status Two businesses were able to share income information despite the rule.
The company filters out some of the data, according to a spokesman.
Meta's spokesman told Ars that advertisers shouldn't send sensitive information to us. We educate advertisers on how to set up business tools to prevent this from happening. Our system is designed to prevent sensitive data from being detected.
The IRS regulates information that tax preparers can collect and share without user consent, according to The Markup. The preparer has to get signed consent from the user that explains the recipient and the precise information being disclosed in order to do anything else.
Tax companies sharing sensitive financial data could risk jail time or fines if they don't explicitly tell users how it was shared with Meta. There were no disclosures about sharing data with Meta or Facebook on H&R Block, TaxAct, or TaxSlayer websites.
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