The Doge van Elon Musk now focuses his sights on the IRS and makes an unprecedented urge for access to very sensitive financial data that are housed within the organization that drove alarms about privacy, safety and government relief.
According to an explosive report from the Washington Post, the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) requires access to a classified IRS system that contains the personal financial data of millions of Americans.
The request, which is reportedly assessed, would give far -reaching access to IRS 'systems, property and data sets' via a memorandum of agreement.
Of particular importance, the potential access from Doge to the Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS) – a heavily protected database used by IRS employees to view taxpayers records, to work information and to issue official notifications.
Given the ability of the system to collect personal identification numbers, bank account data and other sensitive financial data, IRS officials reportedly expressed deep objections.
The report notes that taxpayers whose information is wrongly assessed or announced can be entitled to financial damage, which underlines the seriousness of the potential risk of DOGE request.
A senior civil servant of Trump Administration defended the move and stated that the mission of Doge is to “make waste, fraud and abuse and improve the performance of the government to better serve people.”
The civil servant also insisted that the request is being made 'legally and with the correct safety authorizations'.
The Doge van Elon Musk now focuses his sights on the IRS and makes an unprecedented urge to access very sensitive financial data that are housed within the organization
The request, which is said to be assessed, would do access to IRS 'systems, real estate and data sets that increase alarms over privacy, security and overrun government
However, critics see the request as an alarming over -range by a department that has already been confronted with control of its broad ambitions.
Experts have warned that allowing the access of political initiative to IRS databases is 'very unusual', so that it expresses concern about potential abuse of tax deferred data.
Nina Olson, a former lawyer of the taxpayer, has not chopped words when tackling the possible consequences of Doge's request.
“The information that the IRS has is incredibly personal,” she told the post.
“Someone with access to it can use it and make it public in a certain way, or do something with it, or share it with someone else who shares it with someone else and are violated.”
The IRS, which is already struggling with outdated technology and worries about cyber security, is now at a crossroads.
Although DOGE claims that the aim is to streamline and modernize government functions, experts fear that granting such access can create a dangerously precedent, so that the door is opened for political manipulation of tax payment data.
The IRS and the Treasury Department did not respond to questions about Doge's request, so that many questions have unanswered about how the situation will unfold.
A senior Trump official defended the move and stated that the mission of DOGE is to eliminate 'waste, fraud and abuse and to improve government performance to better serve people'
It is not the first time that DOG have accessed very sensitive government systems.
Earlier this month, the Department asked for access to the Federal Payment System of the Treasury Department – a relocation that was temporarily blocked by a federal court.
This weekend it was announced how the IRS will dismiss thousands of probation workers in the middle of the tax season, according to two sources that are familiar with the plans of the agency, whereby the cutbacks take place as soon as next week.
It is when the Trump administration is drastic efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to dismiss almost all probation staff who had not yet received protection from officials.
It is unclear how many IRS employees will be influenced.
Earlier, the administration announced a plan to offer buyouts to almost all federal employees through a 'postponed dismissal program' to quickly reduce government's workforce.
The deadline of the program was 6 February, and administration officers said that employees who accept will be able to stop working while still collecting a salary until September 30.
However, it was told that IRS employees who were involved in the tax season of 2025 should not accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until after the taxpayer's deadline, according to a letter that was recently sent to IRS employees.
It is unclear how many employees will be influenced by the dismissal announcement plan.
January 27 was the official start date of the tax season 2025 and the IRS expects that more than 140 million tax returns will be submitted against the deadline of 15 April.
The BIDEN administration has invested heavily in the IRS through an infusion of $ 80 billion of funds in the inflation reduction law of Democrats, including plans to hire tens of thousands of new employees to help with customer service and enforcement and new technology to update taxing desk.
Republicans have succeeded in clawing money back with Musk and Doge who called for the US to remove the entire agencies from the federal government as part of his plan to radically reduce the expenditures and to restructure their priorities.
Trying to fight elected officials against doge plans. Attorden General from 14 States challenged the authority to gain access to sensitive government data and exercise 'virtually uncontrolled power' in a court case that was filed on Thursday.
