Olson: Free File Alliance Should Not Sell RALs

Washington (July 9, 2003) -- National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson told House lawmakers in her annual report that the Internal Revenue Service should not allow refund anticipation loans and other commercial products via the Free File Alliance - a public-private partnership between the IRS and the tax software industry.

“Regardless of the clarity of IRS disclaimers, taxpayers will link the IRS to these product offers,” Olson stated in her report to Congress.

Olson added her concern that tax preparation vendors are not obtaining consent from taxpayers before using their confidential return data to market non-tax products to them.

-- WebCPA staff

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