https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/16/doge-irs-access-taxpayer-data/
https://archive.ph/5qf3Y
Musk's DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS
The unusual request could put sensitive data about millions of American taxpayers in the hands of Trump political appointees.
February 16, 2025 at 10:12 p.m. EST
By Jacob Bogage and Jeff Stein
Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service is seeking access to a heavily guarded Internal Revenue Service system that includes detailed financial information about every taxpayer, business and nonprofit in the country, according to three people familiar with the activities, sparking alarm within the tax agency.
Under pressure from the White House, the IRS is considering a memorandum of understanding that would give officials from DOGE -- which stands for Department of Government Efficiency -- broad access to tax-agency systems, property and datasets. Among them is the Integrated Data Retrieval System, or IDRS, which enables tax agency employees to access IRS accounts -- including personal identification numbers -- and bank information. It also lets them enter and adjust transaction data and automatically generate notices, collection documents and other records.
A security clearance is not a sufficient credential for access to taxpayer systems, according to IRS procedures. IDRS access is governed by compelling needs for tax administration, not national security.
"IDRS users are authorized to access only those accounts required to accomplish their official duties," according to IRS policy.
But it's highly unusual to grant political appointees access to personal taxpayer data, or even programs adjacent to that data, experts say. IRS commissioners traditionally do not have IDRS access. The same goes for the national taxpayer advocate, the agency's internal consumer watchdog, according to Nina Olson, who served in the role from 2001 to 2019.
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