Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Governmental Efficiency) team wants access the IRS database of all taxpayer records. Why? The purported purpose of DOGE is to root out bureaucratic inefficiency and fraud in the federal government. But will DOGE’s access to extremely sensitive and personal financial information on every taxpayer in the country eliminate government waste or find fraud? How? Or, perhaps, is granting DOGE access to taxpayer records a way for the current administration to gain information on political enemies?
IRS’ Integrated Data Retrieval System
The database DOGE proposes to access, the Integrated Data Retrieval System or IDRS, holds personal tax data on every US taxpayer — their prior tax payments, penalties, installment agreements with the IRS; all W2 and 1099 forms; all previous tax returns; any audit results and all other actions taken by the IRS to gain payment.
Tight IDRS Control Legislated by Congress
When I call an IRS agent on behalf of a client, and we start to talk about the taxpayer’s account, the IRS rep is reading the information I need from the IDRS system. Before an agent will give me any information, I am always grilled on whether I have authorization to access it. I have to fax a power of attorney form, signed by my client and myself, that contains a lot of information about me (my name, address, State Bar Association number, and other identifying information). If just one item is incorrect by even one digit, I need to resubmit the Power of Attorney: that’s how serious the IRS is about restricting access to sensitive data only to “legitimate” inquiries from people they can fully identify and track.
Strictly limiting access to the IDRS database of taxpayer information is not simply an IRS norm: it is the result of congressional legislation, specifically US Tax Code 1603, governing the Confidentiality and Disclosure of Tax Returns and Return Information. This legislation gives only the Secretary of the Treasury access to taxpayer information. Written authorization is required for everyone else, including the President of the United States (and, presumably, his unelected appointees such as Musk and Musk’s DOGE minions). This legislation does not contemplate a wholesale opening of taxpayer information to the President. Indeed, it requires the President to report back to Congress on which taxpayers he’s asked for information on and why.
During my decade as an IRS attorney, I understood that the most reliable way for me to get fired was to start looking at IDRS accounts for people whom I did not have authorization to look at. For instance, if I wanted to see my pesky neighbor’s, or Donald Trump’s, or Joe Biden’s, or Gavin Newsom’s, or Marjorie Taylor Greene’s tax returns, just because I wanted to, I would be fired and fined if caught. That’s the penalty Congress lays out for anyone who snoops in the IDRS without authorization or for a legitimate inquiry.
IDRS Has No Data on IRS Operations
While the IDRS has billions of pages of granular information about every American taxpayer’s finances, it has NO information about IRS operations – in other words, it contains no data that might yield insights into how the IRS can function more effectively, the main (stated) purpose of DOGE. If DOGE wants to make the IRS more efficient, then why aren’t they going after the monthly and quarterly reports of every field office that tracks information such as average time to conclude audits, number of collections cases closed, average amount of tax liability collected, and personnel records?
I know from a decade of working within the IRS and fifteen years working for taxpayers as a private attorney, that there’s vast differences in the efficiency and competency of IRS personnel and policies: some are policies are enormously effective; some personnel are almost criminally incompetent. Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for upgrading antiquated IRS technology, and firing deadbeat employees. But how exactly is data on individual taxpayers helping Musk improve the efficiency of IRS operations? How can DOGE guarantee their access to our sensitive tax information won’t be used for political mischief? Call me cynical, but I simply don’t see how getting the key to the IDRS database, as opposed to the software that runs it or the people who run and staff the IRS, helps improve the efficiency of the IRS. What I do see is that politically weaponizing sensitive taxpayer information will greatly diminish compliance with tax laws and reduce the revenues the federal government must bring to fund the programs citizens have voted for.
February 17, 2025