# License accounting firm data to AI: tax data rules

> Looking to sell accounting firm data to AI? A license meets 26 U.S.C. 7216, which makes misuse of return information a misdemeanor. Consent must be in writing.

By Matt Burns, Vaultfish. Canonical: https://vaultfish.com/answers/sell-accounting-firm-data-to-ai  
Published: 2026-07-10  
Updated: 2026-10-14

## The short answer

To license accounting firm data to AI, know that 26 U.S.C. 7216 makes disclosing clients' tax return information a misdemeanor, with a fine up to $1,000 or a year in prison. You need the client's written, dated consent first. A firm's own operating records may differ from client files.

An accounting firm holds its own operating records and its clients' financial files. The law treats the second group very differently.

## What do the companies say about accounting data?

[micro1's data partnerships page](https://www.micro1.ai/data-partnerships) lists finance and accounting as an area. [Troveo's page](https://www.troveo.ai/business-data) names ledgers and invoices as data types. A firm whose records are mostly client files has less of its own to offer, for the reasons below.

Both are self-reported. I found no price for accounting data. The [QuickBooks page](/answers/sell-quickbooks-data-to-ai) covers the export side.

## What does [26 U.S.C. 7216](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7216) say?

It applies to a person in the business of preparing tax returns, or who prepares one for pay. The person commits a misdemeanor by knowingly or recklessly disclosing information furnished for a return, or using it for any purpose other than preparing or assisting in preparing a return.

The penalty is a fine of up to $1,000 (up to $100,000 where section 6713(b) applies), imprisonment of up to one year, or both. The statute has listed exceptions in subsection (b).

## What does the tax-return consent rule (26 CFR 301.7216-3) require?

The Treasury rule, [26 CFR 301.7216-3](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/301.7216-3), says a preparer may not disclose or use return information before getting the taxpayer's written consent. Consent must come before the disclosure, and it must carry the taxpayer's signature and date and name the preparer and the taxpayer. It must also identify the information, the purpose and, unless an exception applies, the recipients.

If a consent does not say how long it lasts, it runs for one year from signing. One document cannot authorize both uses and disclosures, so each needs its own.

## Does the FTC Safeguards Rule apply?

The FTC's Safeguards Rule, [16 CFR 314.2](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/314.2), lists an accountant or other tax preparation service in the business of completing income tax returns as a financial institution. My [financial data page](/answers/can-i-sell-health-or-financial-client-data-to-ai) covers the notice and opt-out rule that follows from that status.

Bookkeeping files that are not tax return information may sit under different rules. Which records fall where is a question for counsel.

Talk to a privacy or commercial lawyer in your state before you sign. The [rights check](/rights-check) lists the first questions.

micro1 may pay us a referral fee if a company we introduce goes ahead with it. [How we are paid](https://vaultfish.com/disclosure)

Figure: steps Written consent, signed and dated -> Names parties, purpose, recipients -> Lasts one year by default. Under 26 CFR 301.7216-3, consent comes first in writing and lasts one year unless it says otherwise.

_Vaultfish helps you run the process. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. If you need counsel who knows this area, we can point you to one._

## Sources

- [micro1's data partnerships page](https://www.micro1.ai/data-partnerships)
- [Troveo's page](https://www.troveo.ai/business-data)
- [26 U.S.C. 7216](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7216)
- [26 CFR 301.7216-3](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/301.7216-3)
- [16 CFR 314.2](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/314.2)