The Internal Revenue Service improperly shared confidential tax information of thousands of individuals with #immigration enforcement officials, acc/to 3 people familiar with the situation, appearing to breach a #legal #firewall intended to protect taxpayer data.
The erroneous disclosure was only recently discovered, the people said. The #IRS is working with officials from #Treasury, #DOJ & #DHS on the #Trump admin’s response.
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The Internal Revenue Service improperly shared confidential tax information of thousands of individuals with #immigration enforcement officials, acc/to 3 people familiar with the situation, appearing to breach a #legal #firewall intended to protect taxpayer data.
The erroneous disclosure was only recently discovered, the people said. The #IRS is working with officials from #Treasury, #DOJ & #DHS on the #Trump admin’s response.
#Federal #law mandates strict protections of the identities of #taxpayers, including sharing data within the #FederalGovernment. Undocumented #immigrants have for years paid #taxes with assurances that doing so would not result in them being targeted by #immigration enforcement.
But in a controversial decision, #Treasury, which oversees the #IRS, in April 2025 agreed to provide #DHS with the names & addresses of individuals the #Trump admin believed to be in the country illegally.
Federal #courts have since blocked the data-sharing arrangement, holding that it violates #taxpayers’ rights, though the #FederalGovernment appealed those rulings.
Before the agreement was struck down, #DHS requested the addresses of 1.2 million individuals from the #IRS. The tax agency responded with data on 47,000 individuals, acc/to court records.
When the #IRS shared the addresses with #DHS, it also inadvertently disclosed private information for thousands of #taxpayers erroneously, a mistake only recently discovered, said people familiar….
The affected individuals could be entitled to financial compensation for each time their #information was improperly shared. And government officials can personally face stiff #civil & #criminal penalties for sharing #confidential #tax information.