Taxpayer Data Sharing Tests Privacy Protections’ Reach (Correct)

The IRS’s agreement to share data as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, coupled with novel litigation over a contractor’s leak, could push the bounds of a law banning disclosure of taxpayer information.

IRC Section 6103 protects taxpayer information obtained by the IRS from disclosure, including to other branches of government. But the law has several exceptions, most notably for criminal enforcement purposes.

“It’s clear when this statute was passed, the IRS was not intended to be a lending library,” said Jennifer Black, a former IRS employee who’s now managing director of tax procedure at Citrin ...