Don't Mess With Taxes

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán

If you’ve had questions about exactly what Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) personnel have and are doing at the Internal Revenue Service, you are not alone.

And now we may get some answers.

Pro Publica reports that a Treasury Department inspector general is probing efforts by Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE to obtain private taxpayer data and other sensitive information.

The nonprofit investigative newsroom says it reviewed internal communications that show Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) requested wide-ranging information from IRS employees in a mid-April email.

“In particular, the office is seeking any requests for taxpayer data from the president, the Executive Office of the President, DOGE or the president’s Office of Management and Budget,” according to the story on the online journalism website.

ProPublica also notes that —

“Emails from the inspector general to IRS employees earlier this month asked them to provide copies of any written agreements to share taxpayer data with entities including the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, DOGE, the Office of Personnel Management or other agencies. It also seeks a full list of non-IRS employees who are part of DOGE or its affiliates.”

Capitol Hill questions: The request appears to be in response to Congressional questions about whether DOGE has overstepped its bounds in seeking typically highly-restricted information about taxpayers, public employees, or federal agencies.

On March 24, three Democratic U.S. Senators released a joint statement after reports the IRS was working on a plan to provide taxpayer information to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to help that agency locate suspected undocumented immigrants.

“This weekend, it became clear that the Trump Administration is finalizing plans to target and penalize people who are following federal law and contributing to our economy. This agreement between the IRS and DHS — if finalized — will have long-lasting and devastating implications on our economy, taxpayer privacy, immigrant communities, and the rule of law,” said Sen. Alex Padilla of California, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee; Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee; and Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, ranking member on Senate Finance.

The trio’s statement came after they sent on March 14 a letter to the IRS and DHS, which also was signed by 14 of their Democratic colleagues in the Upper Chamber, expressing their concern the White House and DOGE requests of the IRS for taxpayer data.

TIGTA involvement requested: When Trump fired 17 inspectors general shortly after his return to the Oval Office in January, TIGTA was spared, likely because the independent IRS watchdog already was operating under an acting head following the death of its long-serving leader J. Russell George in early January 2024.

Heather M. Hill has been serving as interim chief of TIGTA since George’s passing.

On April 9, the Democratic Senators officially asked TIGTA, via a letter to Hill, to look into the potential IRS privacy violations.

“[T]axpayer data held by the IRS is, by design, subject to some of the strongest privacy protections under federal law, the violation of which can trigger civil and criminal sanctions, including up to five years in prison,” the Senators wrote.

“Congress passed these protections in the 1970s after President Nixon weaponized the IRS against his political enemies,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Hill.  “These legal protections for taxpayer data apply to all taxpayers and are an essential foundation for our tax system, which requires the voluntary submission of information to the government. Voluntary tax compliance depends on taxpayers having faith that their confidential information will not be used for anything other than tax administration.”

TIGTA timetable: ProPublica reports TIGTA’s review appears to be in its early stages, as document describes staffers as “beginning preplanning.” However, the email the online reporters saw directed the IRS to turn over specific documents by yesterday, Thursday, April 24.

It’s not clear if that happened, or how long the TIGTA investigation might take.

However, the Senators’ letter seeking the TIGTA inquiry asked Hill to “provide us with this information as soon as it is available, provide us with a briefing by May 8, 2025, and complete this work by September 30, 2025.”

You also might find these items of interest:

• IRS employees & contractors owe $46 million in taxes
• TIGTA celebrating 25 years of keeping an eye on the IRS
• TIGTA cites online tax prep info sharing issues for filers & IRS

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