In a report that was recently published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), there were several findings about the willful and unauthorized access of taxpayer data by IRS employees.
Data For the Decade
According to the report, the IRS has conducted roughly 1,700 investigations of its employees over the last decade. More than 25% of these investigations proved wrongdoings that led to IRS employees being suspended, sending resignation letters, and even being fired in some cases.
More Scrutiny Towards IRS
As mentioned in several of our previous articles, the IRS has been on the radar of Congress and many tax professionals due to their lack of employment and inability to clear the backlog of unprocessed returns. Lawmakers throughout the country are all becoming increasingly frustrated with the IRS and its employees, as it is very hard to reach IRS employees via phone for further questioning. On top of all of that, one of the most recent IRS moves was to destroy roughly 30 million paper information return documents, which also leaves members of Congress searching for answers.
GAO Statement
The lengthy report provided by the General Accountability Office notes all the duties and responsibilities of IRS supervisors and employees, saying that several of the agency offices share the duty of protecting taxpayer information at the federal level. It also said that these offices are responsible for putting the policies in place and overseeing them to ensure maximum security.
“If IRS employees access tax information that (1) is not a part of their assigned duties, or (2) is otherwise prohibited, then this access is unauthorized,” said the report. “Unauthorized access can either be considered inadvertent or willful. UNAX is the willful unauthorized access, attempted access, or inspection of tax returns or return information. Similarly, disclosures of tax information that are not authorized can be considered inadvertent or willful.”
IRS Addresses Problem
The Internal Revenue Service is responsible for investigating these wrongdoings and setting an appropriate penalty for the violating employee. In some cases, the investigation only presents findings that warrant disciplinary action, where the employee’s management team would decide the penalty. Several IRS policies indicate that permanent termination is an appropriate disciplinary action and typically the one that is taken by IRS management teams.
Jeffrey Tribiano, the Deputy Chief of operations support for the IRS stated, “The vast majority of IRS employees take their charge to protect taxpayer information as the foundation of their career in serving America’s taxpayers, “The small number of employees who do not uphold our standards face serious discipline up to and including removal from the IRS. We will continue to educate our employees and refine our capabilities to detect UNAX and unauthorized disclosures as these efforts are key to ensuring that taxpayers can trust that the information provided to the IRS will be protected and only used for legitimate tax administration purposes.”
Wrap Up
This can be unnerving news to filers everywhere, but it is important to note that this data was comprised over a decade, and the IRS does have systems in place to stop these things from becoming a common occurrence. Call your accountant or advisor if you need any advice on how to best protect your information.