The Department of Government Efficiency has ordered the IRS to share what the Tax Law Center at NYU describes as an “unprecedented disclosure of confidential tax information.”  DOGE apparently says it needs this information to identify improper federal benefit payments by comparing the actua l payments made by government agencies with the recipients’ tax records.  Irrespective of your political views, you should be concerned about this DOGE request.  Nearly a half-century ago, Congress was concerned about the potential abuse of confidential taxpayer data by the government when it enacted a series of Internal Revenue Code provisions designed to protect taxpayers.  The IRS website contains an outstanding summary of the laws protecting a taxpayer’s tax return information from disclosure to other parties by the Internal Revenue Service. The Internal Revenue Code generally prohibits the release of tax information by an IRS employee.   Exceptions to the general rule are fairly limited, but include sharing information with the Social Security Administration, state tax agencies, law enforcement agencies who obtain a court’s permission during a criminal investigation or disclosure to intelligence agencies during the course of investigating terrorist activities. Some tax commentators have questioned whether DOGE meets these requirements.  Upon receipt of confidential taxpayer information, other agencies must establish and maintain certain safeguards and protocols to the satisfaction of the IRS, and ultimately, to the Treasury Secretary. In fact, the IRS has published strict data security protocols that must be adhered to as a condition of receiving sensitive taxpayer data.   The Internal Revenue Code establishes civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information, so clearly IRS personnel do not want to engage in actions that might subject them to these penalties.  According to the Washington Post, “A 2024 Treasury inspector general report found that the IRS under the Biden administration gave 20 unpaid hires and 239 contractors access to sensitive taxpayer information.”  When you read the actual report, the Treasury inspector general did not find that access was improperly granted, but rather found that some of the IRS data security protocols were not properly adhered to.  One of the principal reasons cited for these problems was the lack of IRS resources, which is at least partially attributable to years of IRS underfunding. Even though the access given was limited to a relatively small amount of data, all taxpayers should be troubled by this precedent.  Because of the extent of the documents requested by DOGE, IRS career personnel were loathe to grant the DOGE request unless all the protocols were adhered to. The IRS may also have questioned whether DOGE is authorized to receive the information.  As a result, several high-level career IRS officials have resigned.  Supporters of the DOGE endeavors cite the access given under the Biden administration to contractors and unpaid hires as favorable precedent for granting DOGE access to the data.  This ignores the issue of whether DOGE will adequately safeguard the data.   It also insinuates the false premise that it is OK for us to engage in questionable activity because the other party undertook similar actions before us.  Carrying that rationale to its logical (but unacceptable) extreme, it is OK for me to beat my wife because my neighbor beats his wife? If the contractors hired during the Biden Administration were hacked and their information was compromised, a limited number of taxpayers would be affected. However, given the unprecedented volume of information requested by DOGE, if DOGE was hacked, everyone’s data could be compromised.   As a tax professional in the middle of tax season, I am particularly sensitive to this.  Last week, I met with a client who told me she never received her 2023 tax refund. Even though her return was electronically filed and accepted by the IRS months ago, the IRS has not processed it.  One of my colleagues who helps taxpayers obtain refunds that the IRS failed to process told me that my client may have been a victim of cyber theft. Someone may have stolen her IRS identity and filed a fraudulent return claiming a refund of the taxes she paid in.  Imagine if that happened on a large scale because the information provided to DOGE was hacked.   I strongly support ferreting out cheaters and those who erroneously receive benefits, but I am concerned that DOGE is acting too fast without implementing the proper controls.  In my 50-plus years as a CPA, I have observed that hastily implemented programs and processes typically fail and/or have unintended adverse consequences.   Jim de Bree is a Valencia resident.  The post Jim de Bree | DOGE, IRS: Be Mindful to Secure Data appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal. ...read more read less