U.S. Appeals Court Upholds IRS-ICE Address Sharing Agreement, Citing Statutory Authority

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) did not violate the law by agreeing to share taxpayer addresses with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigration enforcement purposes, affirming the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction. Taxpayer, a nonprofit organization, challenged an IRS-ICE memorandum of understanding (MOU), allowing address sharing under IRC §6103(i)(2). The court found that §6103(i)(2) unambiguously authorizes disclosure of taxpayer addresses upon receipt of a valid request from law enforcement for use in criminal investigations. The court rejected Taxpayer’s arguments that legislative history or prior IRS interpretations ...