On August 19, 2026, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced a $275,000 settlement with online tax preparation company TaxAct over allegations that the company improperly disclosed taxpayer information to advertising partners through third-party tracking technologies on its website. The Attorney General alleged that, between January 2018 and December 2022, TaxAct used third-party tracking technologies for analytics and marketing purposes and, in doing so, disclosed detailed taxpayer information without informing consumers.
The settlement is notable because it highlights regulatory scrutiny over the disclosure of financial information, and also because it imposes extensive governance, monitoring, and auditing requirements on TaxAct relating to the use of third-party tracking technologies. In addition, the settlement does not specify what law was allegedly violated.
Alleged Disclosures of Taxpayer Information
According to the Attorney General, TaxAct disclosed various categories of taxpayer information to advertising partners through tracking technologies embedded on its website. The information allegedly disclosed included rounded adjusted gross income, rounded tax refunds and taxes owed, and certain information relating to taxpayers’ income and deductions. The Attorney General also alleged that the disclosures included information concerning taxpayers’ number of dependents and whether they reported charitable contributions, investment income, mortgage interest, or student loan interest.
The Attorney General further alleged that TaxAct’s agreement with its advertising partner did not limit the partner’s ability to use the information for its own purposes or to share the information with additional third parties. According to the settlement announcement, TaxAct did not notify taxpayers of these disclosures despite representing in its privacy notices that it would safeguard consumer privacy and prohibit third parties from sharing TaxAct data.
Settlement Requires Third-Party Tracking Governance Program
In addition to the $275,000 payment, the settlement requires TaxAct to implement a compliance program governing its use of third-party tracking technologies. According to the Attorney General’s announcement, the settlement requires TaxAct to:
- Establish a review committee responsible for overseeing the use of third-party tracking technologies;
- Implement written policies and procedures governing the approval of new tracking technologies and modifications to existing technologies;
- Maintain documentation identifying the data points collected through third-party tracking technologies;
- Deploy a tag-monitoring system that regularly scans the company’s website to verify that tracking technologies are functioning as approved; and
- Obtain two independent third-party audits assessing compliance with the company’s third-party tracking governance program.
These requirements focus heavily on ongoing oversight and technical monitoring of tracking technologies, rather than solely on notice and consent obligations.