On February 23, the FTC announced an action against a tax preparation company for alleged unfair and deceptive acts and practices related to the sale of tax preparation products and services. The FTC alleged in its redacted...more
The FTC filed an administrative complaint against H&R Block, alleging the tax preparation company violated the FTC Act when it misleadingly advertised its online products as “free” and unfairly complicated the process for...more
Beginning May 11, 2024, non-banking financial institutions regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will be required to submit notifications of data breaches or other security events that impact 500+ consumers. The FTC...more
In an amendment to the Safeguards Rule of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which was officially announced on October 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will mandate that a wide array of nonbank financial...more
The information you provide to your tax preparer is as sensitive as it gets. The assumption is that the tax preparation company is only using your data to prepare your taxes. In an enforcement action against Beneficial Corp.,...more
The FTC recently sent five tax preparers a notice of its intention to pursue civil penalties (“Notice”) if they continue to use consumers’ data for purposes other than tax preparation (such as advertising) without first...more
Earlier this week, 50 states and D.C. obtained a $141 million settlement with Intuit related to its advertising of free and freemium TurboTax products. This settlement, which took the form of an Assurance of Voluntary...more
The FTC has released its annual report summarizing its activity during 2017 relating to privacy and data security issues. In its self-declared role as “the nation’s primary privacy and data security enforcer,” the FTC...more
When the topic of data privacy and cyber security comes up, most people automatically think of data breaches, especially given the high-profile nature of so many of them. Breaches and hacks are certainly an issue about which...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week announced a consent order with TaxSlayer, LLC, an online tax preparation services provider, to settle claims that the company violated the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Safeguards...more