DOGE’s request for IRS data systems access may pose risks to tax filers

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — the special entity created by President Donald Trump and run by Elon Musk to bring about greater “governmental efficiency and productivity” — has been pressing for authorized access to IRS data systems right in the middle of tax-filing season.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — the special entity created by President Donald Trump and run by Elon Musk to bring about greater “governmental efficiency and productivity” — has been pressing for authorized access to IRS data systems right in the middle of tax-filing season. The IRS, of course, has extensive and complex data systems containing highly sensitive personal and financial information on more than 100 million individual tax filers and businesses. Those systems are often interconnected, and making changes in one can have a knock-on effect on others, according to Terry Milholland, who served as IRS chief technology officer from 2008 to 2016. The mere fact that DOGE is seeking such quick access has been alarming to many people for a number of reasons — including the potential that DOGE team members may access some types of tax data illegally, even if inadvertently — or illegally expose that data to third parties. Additionally, neither lawmakers nor the public have been given any clear sense as to what DOGE’s plans are for using the data it does access. (Alarm is so great that a group of taxpayer advocates, small business groups and unions filed an emergency suit in federal court to “halt DOGE’s unfettered and lawless access to personal data at levels (that) endanger the privacy of hundreds of millions of Americans.”) On top of those serious concerns, DOGE most immediately may pose risks to Americans who are preparing to file their taxes now, as the group presses the IRS for access to its systems, noted John Koskinen, who served as IRS commissioner from late December 2013 to mid-November 2017. “They run the risk of inadvertently triggering errors and having the (tax-filing) system shut down,” Koskinen said. He noted that even the IRS typically doesn’t tinker with its systems during the filing season because everyone’s priority at the agency is to ensure a smooth experience. “I don’t see the urgency or the rush. The systems aren’t going anywhere.” And, he added, “I would think anyone with knowledge of IT and an understanding of the complexity of the tax filing season would stay away” — at least until early summer, when the bulk of the more than 140 million returns the IRS is expecting will have been filed.