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The Internal Revenue Service improperly shared the confidential taxpayer information of thousands of people with the Department of Homeland Security as part of the agency’s controversial agreement to share immigration data to help identify those living in the country illegally, according to a new court filing.
The Treasury Department, the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security finalized an agreement last spring to allow taxpayer data to be shared with immigration authorities to help them track down illegal immigrants.
The agreement, which led to the resignation of top IRS officials, authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit the names and addresses of illegal immigrants to the IRS for verification against tax records.
In an announcement filed Wednesday, IRS Chief Risk and Control Officer Dottie Romo said the IRS was able to verify approximately 47,000 of the 1.28 million names requested by ICE and disclosed to the immigration agency.
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The Internal Revenue Service improperly disclosed the taxpayer information of thousands of people to the Department of Homeland Security. (Getty Images)
The IRS provided ICE with additional address information for less than 5% of those names, potentially violating privacy laws designed to protect taxpayer data.
The tax collection agency said it recently discovered the error and is working with other government agencies to resolve the issue.
Romo said Treasury notified DHS last month of the error and asked for its assistance in “immediately taking steps to correct this matter in accordance with federal law,” including “proper disposal of any data provided to ICE by the IRS based on incomplete or insufficient address information.”
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The Treasury Department, the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security finalized an agreement last spring to allow taxpayer data to be shared with immigration authorities. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
An agreement last year between the IRS and DHS removed lawsuits against the Trump administration and overturned a long-standing IRS policy that encouraged immigrants to pay taxes even if they were not in the US legally by assuring them that their data was safe.
The lawsuit was filed by Treasury Secretary Scott Besent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on behalf of several immigrant rights groups shortly after the deal was signed.
Last week, a federal judge ordered the IRS to stop disclosing residential addresses to ICE, marking the second ruling blocking the IRS-DHS agreement.
In November, a separate judge blocked the IRS from sharing information with DHS, saying the IRS had illegally distributed tax data for some immigrants over the summer, violating taxpayer confidentiality laws.
The lawsuit was filed by Treasury Secretary Scott Besent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on behalf of several immigrant rights groups shortly after the deal was signed. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Advocacy groups have expressed concern that the potential illegal release of taxpayer records could be used to maliciously target US citizens and violate their privacy.
“When taxpayer information is open to immigrants, mistakes are inevitable and the consequences are for innocent people,” Tom Bowman, policy adviser for the Center for Democracy & Technology, told the Associated Press. “The disclosure of thousands of confidential records unfortunately shows precisely why there are strong legal defenses and – until now – considered an important safeguard.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
