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Seems more a reason to never use Intuit, TaxAct, TaxSlayer, & Block since they're the ones illegally selling client data.

Here's a link to the article: https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2022/11/22/tax-filing-websites-have-been-sending-users-financial-information-to-facebook

Meta's website doesn't explicitly say, but how it appears to work is that Meta will let businesses use the programmable Pixels for free in return for receiving the information, which Meta then uses for marketing and advertising which is how they generate revenue.

Has this report been verified or is it just a conspiracy theory? If so, sharing tax info is a major violation of Circular 230 and these firms can lose their ability to prepare tax returns. Back in the days when Block offered mortgages and financial services, there was a form clients could sign to allow sharing their tax info with these subsidiaries. Is there a form they now sign allowing sharing with Facebook?

Wow. I went out and read the whole article. Wow....just wow! Tom Longview, TX

I have worked in Desktop Taxwise since 1994 and it is great for simple and medium 1040 returns and is forms based for very fast entry. It also does fairly well with entity returns with a couple of K-1 forms. However, you will start running into limitations if you have entity returns with more than one business activity, need advance 199A calculations, need to report K-2 or K-3, need to report at risk limitation or passive income activities. I have not used the Taxwise online product which in the past has been more limited and only available for 1040. I have tried ATX but never really enough to be comfortable with it. As they are both from CCH, I suspect the support or lack of would be the same. The only reason I really use support is to report bugs in the system.

Why would you do that and make your situation more complicated?

"Major tax filing services such as H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer have been quietly transmitting sensitive financial information to Facebook when Americans file their taxes online, The Markup has learned. The data, sent through widely used code called the Meta Pixel, includes not only information like names and email addresses but often even more detailed information, including data on users’ income, filing status, refund amounts, and dependents’ college scholarship amounts. The information sent to Facebook can be used by the company to power its advertising algorithms and is gathered regardless of whether the person using the tax filing service has an account on Facebook or other platforms operated by its owner, Meta. " Surprise, Surprise! Another reason to never use Facebook!

If you want to see something scary try this, with your smartphone being closed, the say any of the following words: Thinning hair cellulitis receding hairline Then open Facebook and you’ll start seeing ads for hair transplant, cosmetic surgery etc..

Think of Meta Pixels as next generation programmable cookies, which Meta provides to business users to "enhance the users online experience" with the information then being shared with Meta, which includes Facebook, Instagram and to a lesser extent Whatsapp. Meta Pixels are apparently very hard to avoid and very difficult to get rid of. Supposedly Google some similar tracking but not at this depth. "The Markup found sensitive data sent to Facebook on the Education Department’s federal student aid application website, crisis pregnancy websites, and the websites of prominent hospitals. " "The Markup tested the websites of Newsweek’s top 100 hospitals in America. On 33 of them we found the tracker, called the Meta Pixel, sending Facebook a packet of data whenever a person clicked a button to schedule a doctor’s appointment. The data is connected to an IP address—an identifier that’s like a computer’s mailing address and can generally be linked to a specific individual or household—creating an intimate receipt of the appointment request for Facebook." Unless we go completely off grid or avoid other parties websites like the plague we are all being tracked.