Why the U.S. Must Act Now to Protect Our Online Privacy

Lawmakers need to step up. Don’t expect Big Tech to help.

By Jonathan Baron

I’m thankful for the European Union. They watch out with much more diligence to protect privacy and do so with an eye to cybersecurity as well. But at least our regulators in the U.S. are fairly good, but slow, followers.

MORE CYBERSECURITY: Top Tax Vendors Caught Red-Handed Selling Private Taxpayer Data | How Hacker-Proof is Your Firm?It Takes a Village to Stop Cybercrime | One-Third of Cyber Attacks Involve Small BusinessesCyber Insurance Costs Rise in Health Care as Attacks SoarThe Why, What and How of Cybersecurity for AccountantsWhen Cyber-Crime Hits Close to HomeCybersecurity for Tax Professionals |

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I was reminded of this because the other day, I received my quarterly report from DeleteMe, which I use to periodically clean up my data being bought and sold without my knowledge on the open market. Since our last report, my wife and I have had over 20 new third parties needing cleanup. Unbelievable.

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Top Tax Vendors Caught Red-Handed Selling Private Taxpayer Data

TaxSlayer, H&R Block and TaxAct have been passing on sensitive personal and financial data to Meta, Google and other Big Tech companies.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Q: Since when did private tax returns become public information?

A: Since some of the nation’s biggest tax preparers decided to share it.

MORE CYBERSECURITY: Jon Baron: Why the U.S. Must Act Now to Protect Our Online Privacy |Top Tax Vendors Caught Red-Handed Selling Private Taxpayer Data | How Hacker-Proof is Your Firm?It Takes a Village to Stop Cybercrime | One-Third of Cyber Attacks Involve Small BusinessesCyber Insurance Costs Rise in Health Care as Attacks SoarThe Why, What and How of Cybersecurity for AccountantsWhen Cyber-Crime Hits Close to HomeCybersecurity for Tax Professionals |

MORE TAX: IRS Embracing Stakeholders | Coming Soon: New Ways to Pay the IRS | IRS Sets Milestones for Radically New Service | IRS Promises 12 Customer Service Initiatives | Should Tax Preparers Be Certified Competent? | IRS Has Big Plans for Its $80 Billion | Can’t IRS Tax Pro Accounts Do More? | Taxpayer Assistance Centers Need Upgrade
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For all your concerns about protecting client information, it seems that TaxSlayer, H&R Block and TaxAct have been passing on sensitive personal and financial data to Meta, Google and other Big Tech companies.
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IRS Embracing Stakeholders

Partnership, feedback sought.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that it cannot achieve effective tax administration alone, that it must include a broad ecosystem of stakeholders.

MORE: Coming Soon: New Ways to Pay the IRS | IRS to Speed up Issue Resolution | IRS Sets Milestones for Radically New Service | IRS Promises 12 Customer Service Initiatives | Should Tax Preparers Be Certified Competent?
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In other words, taxation takes a village.

The IRS’s new Strategic Operating Plan 2023-2031 delves into the breadth and variety of stakeholders.
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Coming Soon: New Ways to Pay the IRS

Person using credit card to pay bill onlineImprovements will be made over four years.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Americans are used to paying for things online, over the phone, through bank transfers, with automatic renewals, with credit cards, digital wallets and checks in the mail, not to mention a variety of specialized banks, such as PayPal and Venmo, and even good ol’-fashioned cash.

MORE: IRS to Speed up Issue Resolution | IRS Sets Milestones for Radically New Service | IRS Promises 12 Customer Service Initiatives | Should Tax Preparers Be Certified Competent? | IRS: Let the Sun Shine In … and Out | IRS Has Big Plans for Its $80 Billion | Can’t IRS Tax Pro Accounts Do More? | Hello? IRS? Anybody Home? | Taxpayer Assistance Centers Need Upgrade | At the IRS, Short on Staff Means Short on Service
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To the frustration of millions of American taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service, until recently, has accepted payments only with 19th-century technology.
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IRS to Speed up Issue Resolution

Woman looking at tablet at outdoor tableA triad of good intentions.

By CPA Trendlines Research

A lot of the backlog at the Internal Revenue Service is because of simple errors that compound their own complications. Arithmetic boo-boos too easily snowball into backlogs, bankruptcies and court cases.

MORE: IRS Sets Milestones for Radically New Service | IRS Promises 12 Customer Service Initiatives | Should Tax Preparers Be Certified Competent? | IRS: Let the Sun Shine In … and Out | IRS Has Big Plans for Its $80 Billion
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It might start off with a simple math error or misplaced deduction.
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IRS Sets Milestones for Radically New Service

Calendar pages turningWhat’s promised between now and the end of 2027.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Funded with $80 billion in new appropriations, the IRS has laid out detailed plans for overhauling the service with better customer service, more online options and a modernized information technology system.

MORE: IRS Promises 12 Customer Service Initiatives | Clientele and Revenues Rising, But … | Should Tax Preparers Be Certified Competent? | IRS: Let the Sun Shine In … and Out | IRS Has Big Plans for Its $80 Billion | Can’t IRS Tax Pro Accounts Do More? | Hello? IRS? Anybody Home? | Taxpayer Assistance Centers Need Upgrade
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It’s an ambitious – and necessary and long overdue – plan. Can the IRS pull it off?

We’ll know they can do it if they manage to hit the milestones they’ve set for the next few years. If they do, the United States may be on the road to a just and user-friendly system of tax collection.
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IRS Promises 12 Customer Service Initiatives

illustrative flowchart of customer serviceBut can it deliver?

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Inflation Reduction Act, which increases the IRS budget by $80 billion over the next 10 years, has already allowed the IRS to write a new Strategic Operating Plan for the years 2023-2031.

MORE: Clientele and Revenues Rising, But … | Should Tax Preparers Be Certified Competent? | Have No Fear, April Is Here | Should Tax Preparers Be Certified Competent? | IRS: Let the Sun Shine In … and Out | IRS Has Big Plans for Its $80 Billion | Can’t IRS Tax Pro Accounts Do More? | Hello? IRS? Anybody Home?
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But can the IRS really accomplish what it plans?

If so, we could see a wonderful new tax collection agency that is fair, efficient, helpful, modern and serious about enforcement.
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Should Tax Preparers Be Certified Competent?

Four recommendations for Congress.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Sad news for all you enrolled agents, enrolled actuaries, attorneys, CPAs and other trained, competent tax preparers: you wasted your time and money on education. It turns out incompetence isn’t illegal. There are no standards, no mandatory credentials. Anyone can claim to be a tax preparer.

MORE: IRS: Let the Sun Shine In … and Out | IRS Has Big Plans for Its $80 Billion | Can’t IRS Tax Pro Accounts Do More? | Hello? IRS? Anybody Home? | Taxpayer Assistance Centers Need Upgrade | At the IRS, Short on Staff Means Short on Service
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Best of all, when an incompetent preparer makes a mistake, it’s only taxpayers and the IRS that suffer.
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