Clark Howard's Tips

IRS getting negative publicity again

March 23, 2006

Have you heard the latest story regarding the IRS? It's a doozy.

The IRS issued a "rulemaking," or junior law giving tax prep companies permission to sell your information to any anyone they please.

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The IRS claimed the rule was all about protecting your privacy, but that's simply not true.

The IRS is telling people that by signing a piece of paper you are protecting your information, but in actuality you're signing away your rights. People aren't even going to notice that they're giving away protection of their personal information.

But the truth is that the IRS never permitted this before so using the form as protection is bogus. According to digging done by the Washington Post, this is all about tax preparers wanting a new revenue stream. The IRS apparently figured they'd help these tax prep companies since they all do business together.

But this is an inexcusable move on the part of the IRS.

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