After reviewing 55 Freedom of Information Act information requests from the IRS (out of 3,415) the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has said taxpayer rights may have been violated in nine of those instances because the agency improperly withheld or failed to adequately search for and provide information to requestors.
It also said the IRS may have violated taxpayer rights by failing to adequately search for and provide information in three of 54 sampled requests, which would suggest information may have been erroneously withheld in about 559 instances. (TIGTA noted that the agency responded within a reasonable timeframe to all requests.)
The IRS agreed with recommendations to require disclosure specialists to adhere to general correspondence guidelines when processing requests by specifying these time frames in the disclosure section of the Internal Revenue Manual, and to emphasize the importance of disclosure laws and regulations with disclosure specialists and their managers.
