5 tips for taxpayers to keep their information secure

'The fewer hands that can access your data, the safer you are'

Close up hands of female using laptop in the dark at night, logging in to her online banking account to manage banking and financial bills.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The question of just how secure taxpayers' data is arose yet again in late October, when a group of U.S. lawmakers followed up with major tax preparation companies on whether they've "heeded the warning by the Federal Trade Commission, which told the companies in September they could face billions of dollars in fines if it turns out they violated their customers' privacy," CNN Business reported.

This warning followed a congressional investigation that found tax prep companies, including TaxSlayer, H&R Block, and TaxAct, had "sent names, phone numbers, email addresses, and income tax information to Facebook and Google," The Week wrote in July. Once that data was passed along, it was "likely used for advertising and AI training purposes, with Google and Meta Platforms tailoring ads to taxpayers based on their personal information," per Investopedia.

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Becca Stanek, The Week US

Becca Stanek has worked as an editor and writer in the personal finance space since 2017. She previously served as a deputy editor and later a managing editor overseeing investing and savings content at LendingTree and as an editor at the financial startup SmartAsset, where she focused on retirement- and financial-adviser-related content. Before that, Becca was a staff writer at The Week, primarily contributing to Speed Reads.