Some of the tax-prep companies still do not know whether the data they shared continues to be held by the tech platforms, the report said. The Warren aide told CNN it was unclear whether Meta knew it was inappropriately using taxpayer data at the time. The investigation found that all three tax-prep companies had discontinued their use of Meta’s pixel after The Markup’s report last November. The tax-prep companies could face billions in fines under US tax law if the federal government decides to sue, said Steven Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “The scope of ‘taxpayer information’ is broad by design,” Rosenthal said, adding that tax-prep companies can be sued for “knowingly” or “recklessly” leaking that information.

Source: CNN July 12, 2023 12:56 UTC