The IRS is considering allowing tax preparers to sell your confidential
tax return information to other companies, including marketers. And
you'll have no control over how that company will use your data, who else
they'll give it to, or whether or not they'll safeguard it from
identity thieves.
Ask your Senators to support legislation, S.2484, to prohibit tax
preparers from disclosing taxpayer information to other companies. Then ask
your friends and family to help by forwarding this email to them.
To take action click on the link below or paste it into your web
browser:
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=1397&id4=ES
Background:
Your tax returns contain extremely sensitive, personal financial
information most Americans wouldn't want the world to see, such as your
income, how much you claim in medical expenses, how much you spend on child
care and, of course, your contact information. Up until now, you could
trust that your tax returns would remain private, and only you, your
accountant and the IRS had access to them.
But now the IRS has proposed shocking new rules that would allow your
tax preparer to share or sell the contents of your tax returns with a
third party, as long as you sign a form giving them permission.
That's great news for companies like Choicepoint and others that make
millions of dollars selling your personal information to marketers that
want to barrage you with advertising. And it's a pot of gold for
identity thieves, who would love to get hold of your tax return to make it
easier for them to commit fraud. In fact, just since January 2005,
Choicepoint and dozens of other companies have either lost or had sensitive
personal information on over fifty million of Americans stolen. Over 9
million Americans are victims of identity theft each year, according to
the Federal Trade Commission.
Since OSPIRG and other consumer groups began publicizing the IRS
proposal in early March, a firestorm of opposition to the sale of tax returns
has surfaced nationwide. Senator Barack Obama (IL) introduced
legislation in April, S 2484, the Protecting Taxpayer Privacy Act, to stop the
IRS from allowing tax returns to be shared with third parties. We also
seek to roll back the IRS rule that already allows tax preparers to
share information with their own affiliated companies, but the Obama bill
is a very good start. Several other positive bills have been introduced
as well.
Here's how it would work if the IRS proposal isn't stopped by Congress:
When you visit your accountant or a tax preparation firm like H&R
Block, your tax preparer would ask you to sign a form authorizing them to
release your information to a specific third party that wants to buy it,
for whatever reason. Once you sign that form, your tax preparer has
permission to sell the information contained in your tax filings to the
company. Similarly, if you use on-line tax preparer software, you'll have
to run a gauntlet of "do you consent" pop-up screens asking for similar
permission (when you click "yes" to agree, that's your electronic
signature under the law).
And you have no control over how that company will use your data, who
else they'll give it to, or whether or not they'll safeguard it from
thieves adequately.
Under the IRS proposal, consumers have the right to refuse to sign the
form and stop their information from being shared. But that's not good
enough. A consumer needs to trust the person she's hired to prepare and
file her taxes, the very person who tells her to "sign here, sign
there" on a seemingly endless number of forms. Slipping a document in that
shuffle of paperwork violates the trust between the consumer and her
paid tax preparer. Many consumers may not realize they're giving away the
rights to such highly sensitive information, or may feel pressured to
sign the form in front of their tax preparer. And there's nothing in the
IRS rules to prohibit tax preparers from offering special incentives in
exchange for giving up your privacy.
OSPIRG and other state PIRGs, along with the National Consumer Law
Center and the Consumer Federation of America have filed formal comments
with the IRS and also testified in opposition to this rule. The coalition
of consumer groups also criticized other elements of the proposal that
would allow tax preparers to more easily market their own services such
as Refund Anticipation Loans which contain outrageous fees.
The IRS is considering allowing tax preparers to sell your confidential
tax return information to other companies, including marketers. And
you'll have no control over how that company will use your data, who else
they'll give it to, or whether or not they'll safeguard it from
identity thieves.
Ask your Senators to support legislation, S.2484, to prohibit tax
preparers from disclosing taxpayer information to other companies. Then ask
your friends and family to help by forwarding this email to them.
To take action click on the link below or paste it into your web
browser:
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=1397&id4=ES
Sincerely,
Maureen Kirk
OSPIRG Executive Director
[email protected]
http://www.OSPIRG.org
P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this
e-mail with your family and friends. |
