Chuck Darwin<p>Musk’s DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS </p><p>Under pressure from the White House, the <a href="https://c.im/tags/IRS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IRS</span></a> is considering a memorandum of understanding that would give officials from <a href="https://c.im/tags/DOGE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DOGE</span></a> <br>broad access to tax-agency systems, property and datasets. </p><p>Among them is the Integrated Data Retrieval System, or <a href="https://c.im/tags/IDRS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IDRS</span></a>, <br>which enables tax agency employees to access IRS accounts <br>— including personal identification numbers <br>— and bank information. </p><p>It also lets them enter and adjust transaction data and automatically generate notices, <br>collection documents and other records.<br>
According to a draft of the memorandum obtained by The Washington Post, DOGE software engineer <a href="https://c.im/tags/Gavin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Gavin</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Kliger" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Kliger</span></a> is set to work at the IRS for 120 days, <br>though the tax agency and the White House can renew his deployment for the same duration. </p><p>His primary goal at the IRS is to provide "engineering assistance" and "IT modernization consulting".</p><p>It's highly dangerous to grant political appointees access to personal taxpayer data, <br>or even programs adjacent to that data, experts say. </p><p>IRS commissioners traditionally do not have IDRS access. </p><p>The same goes for the national taxpayer advocate, the agency’s internal consumer watchdog, according to Nina Olson, who served in the role from 2001 to 2019.<br>
“The information that the IRS has is incredibly personal. <br>Someone with access to it could use it and make it public in a way, <br>or do something with it, or share it with someone else who shares it with someone else, <br>and your rights get violated,” Olson said.<br><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/16/doge-irs-access-taxpayer-data/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">washingtonpost.com/business/20</span><span class="invisible">25/02/16/doge-irs-access-taxpayer-data/</span></a></p>