Class Action Claims H&R Block Secretly Shares Consumers’ Tax Return Info with Meta, Google

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A proposed class action against H&R Block, Meta Platforms, Google and parent company Alphabet claims the online tax service has secretly shared users’ tax return information with the tech giants.

Are you a California or Pennsylvania resident with a Facebook account who’s used H&R Block for online tax prep? Let us know here.

The 49-page lawsuit alleges H&R Block has “knowingly” installed on its online tax preparation website invisible tracking tools that track visitors as they use the platform and send information furnished during these interactions to Meta and Google without consent.

According to the case, these tools work like “spy cams” to transmit “massive amounts” of highly sensitive data to the tech companies, such as consumers’ names, Social Security numbers, addresses, adjusted gross incomes, filing statuses, refund amounts, deductions, dependents, income properties, dates of birth, health savings account contributions, education expenses and any other information they submitted while preparing or filing a tax return.

The filing says the defendants’ alleged data-sharing practice—which was subject to and confirmed by a congressional investigation in 2022—has intruded on the privacy of tens of millions of consumers and violated federal racketeering and wiretapping laws.

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Per the complaint, Meta and Google collect data on H&R Block users using “unique web codes” known as pixels that operate “secretly and quietly within the background” of the web pages in which they are embedded. The companies offer their proprietary tracking systems—the Meta pixel and Google Analytics (GA), respectively—free of charge to customers like H&R Block, the suit says.

“The collection of data through the use of Google’s GA and Meta’s Pixel has generated enormous financial success for both tech giants,” the filing says, claiming that the companies monetize this information by using it to “better understand consumer behaviors, measure the performance of ad campaigns, and to directly target consumers with additional advertising.”

The complaint goes on to explain that in order to share consumers’ tax return information with third parties in compliance with federal regulations, tax preparers must identify the intended recipient and obtain valid consent, among other requirements. At no point did H&R Block obtain valid consent to disclose users’ tax return information to third parties, and its privacy notice fails to inform customers that their data would be sent to Meta and Google, the complaint contends.

As the case tells it, H&R Block’s website has used the Meta Pixel to transmit consumer data without users’ knowledge or permission since at least 2015.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States and its territories who submitted personal information to H&R Block for the purpose of online tax return preparation during the time the Meta Pixel and/or Google Analytics existed on the online tax service’s websites.

Are you a California or Pennsylvania resident with a Facebook account who’s used H&R Block for online tax prep? Let us know here.