The agency provided findings to the House Ways and Means Committee last year on taxpayer information leaks.
This month, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) wrote that the cybersecurity strategies of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were “not effective” in several areas.
“The protection of [federal taxpayer information] and [personally identifiable information] has been a long-term challenge for the IRS, and while the IRS continues to make improvements to its controls over the security and privacy of taxpayer data, additional actions are needed,” TIGTA wrote in its review.
TIGTA conducted a review of IRS cybersecurity policy after a former IRS employee pled guilty in January to leaking the sensitive tax information of wealthy Americans between 2018 to 2020. The agency compiled its findings for the House Ways and Means Committee in 2023, which requested more information on this taxpayer leak.
According to the watchdog agency, the IRS keeps track of when employees improperly access taxpayer records, but rarely follows through when certain access breaches could lead to prosecution. TIGTA noted that the IRS documented 1,028 record access violations between 2018 and 2023. While the IRS recommended over 62 percent of those cases for prosecution, only six cases were actually accepted for prosecution.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Commissioner Danny Werfel to be led by the Lord as he heads the IRS.
- For the chair and members of the House Ways and Means Committee as they seek to ensure the security of taxpayer information.
Sources: Federal News Network, FedScoop
