Republicans on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee are calling on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to explain steps it is taking to address potential security weaknesses at the agency.
“Preventing illegal access and disclosure of protected taxpayer data is an essential IRS responsibility, one of its highest priorities, and one that is statutorily enshrined in the taxpayer’s bill of rights. Unfortunately, it is also one that has been disregarded for far too long,” the Republicans wrote in a recent letter to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel.
The senators, led by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), ranking member on the committee, cited a recent case where an IRS contractor pled guilty to the unauthorized disclosure of protected, confidential taxpayer information. This allegedly included two instances of disclosing tax information of a public official, as well as tax returns for thousands of taxpayers.
The senators are calling on the commissioner to provide additional information on what they have done to improve security, including:
- The specific steps it has taken since the beginning of this year to address any security weaknesses;
- A timeline of when each such step was taken;
- The current status of each recommendation made by TIGTA or GAO related to data and/or IRS system security since January 2020;
- The next steps and expected timeline for the IRS to address any open recommendations; and
- All specific actions the IRS has taken or will take to make impacted individuals whole.