One of my clients, Barri Brown (all names in this post are fictitious), was missing a 1099 issued by one of the two large Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) companies. It didn’t show on her Wage & Income Transcript, so she called their accounting department and requested a copy. A few days later they emailed it to her. She forwarded it on to me and I entered it into her return.
And then I took a look at the pdf and saw that it was 18 pages long. I wondered what kind of attachments this company would send on a 1099? Perhaps a breakout of state tax issues (although that didn’t apply to my client). Or perhaps some internal accounting records detailing Ms. Brown’s profits and losses.
How about the 1099s for everyone this company serviced with the last name of Brown? The second page is that of Brett Brown, the third page is Daniel Brown, etc. At least only the last four digits of the social security numbers were shown (but both my client and I know the exact amount of Brett Brown’s DFS income from this site in 2016).
In one way, this is hilarious. Apparently it was easier for that clerk to email the 1099s for all the Browns to my client than to just send the specific 1099. (I have to wonder about how they create their 1099s, but that’s a question for another day.)
In another way, it’s stupid. Hasn’t this company heard of privacy concerns and laws? My client has every right to know her income, but absolutely no right to know Brett Brown’s income (unless Mr. Brown elects to tell one of us).
But my client asked a very good question. “That is HILARIOUS and absurd and maybe illegal?” I’m not an attorney, so I can’t state with certainty whether this was a violation of the law. The reality is that this was almost certainly a stupid error, and there wasn’t the intent to do something illegal.
(Tax professionals fall under the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act. If a tax professional were to deliberately do this, it definitely could be a violation of the FTC Act.)
Unfortunately, the data breach at Equifax and this act of stupidity reinforce my belief that businesses need reminders to treat data security very seriously. My client used an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the DFS company; I strongly recommend that sole proprietors (like my client) do that whenever possible. A stolen EIN (for a sole proprietor) can’t be used to file a personal tax return.
Let me give a helpful hint to those issuing 1099s and sending them out: It’s one to a customer. Barri Brown doesn’t need Steven Brown’s 1099. Luckily for this company, my client is able to laugh this off (as am I). The problem is that if this happened to Ms. Brown, it likely happened to Mr. Nelson and others.
Could’ve asked the client to tell her employer’s accounting dept. about the matter.
Companies and its people will Not Know issues like the one that occurred happened unless it’s brought to their attention. If it happened to your client, it may have affected other people.
TOO many times people do Not want to get involved which is a Bad thing.