IRS CEO largely dodges questions about data sharing at IRS, SSA

"In 42,695 of those cases, the IRS violated the law by sharing the last-known address information for those people, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in her opinion last week. The IRS failed to make sure ICE's request met legal requirements, and this led to the disclosure of confidential addresses to the immigration agency in situations where ICE's request for that information was patently deficient."

"Last summer, ICE asked the IRS for information on 1.28 million people. The IRS then disclosed the last known addresses of 47,289 people. In 42,695 of those cases, the IRS violated the law by sharing the last-known address information for those people."

"Bisignano, who is also the head of the Social Security Administration, confirmed that no one at the IRS had been disciplined or fired because of the disclosures. But he cited current litigation when asked to elaborate further about the current status of IRS data sharing with ICE."

The IRS unlawfully disclosed taxpayer information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement under a Treasury-DHS data sharing agreement. A federal judge determined that of 47,289 addresses shared, 42,695 violated legal requirements because the IRS failed to verify ICE's requests met necessary standards. IRS CEO Frank Bisignano declined to provide specifics during a House hearing, citing ongoing litigation and noting the violations occurred before his tenure. No IRS employees faced discipline or termination. The government is appealing the decision, and multiple courts have blocked further data transfers or ICE use of already-obtained IRS information.

Read at Nextgov.com