Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is actively seeking access to a highly secure Internal Revenue Service system containing the tax records of millions of Americans, purportedly to uncover fraud.
However, the effort has triggered unease among privacy advocates and agency officials, who warn that such access could pose significant risks.
The Integrated Data Retrieval System, a crucial IRS database, is used by agency staff to manage taxpayer information, issue notices, and update records.
It holds sensitive details such as Social Security numbers, income, debts, property holdings, and even child custody agreements.
Access to this system is tightly regulated, and as of the past weekend, DOGE has not yet been granted entry, multiple sources confirmed to ABC News.
In defense of the initiative, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields stated on Sunday, “Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.” He added, “DOGE will continue to shine a light on the fraud they uncover as the American people deserve to know what their government has been spending their hard-earned tax dollars on.”
Despite this, the White House has not clarified how DOGE would use the system to investigate fraud or what safeguards would be in place to prevent misuse.
Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, has been vocal about his concerns regarding financial misconduct within government agencies.
During a recent Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, he raised suspicions about bureaucrats amassing wealth while earning modest salaries.
“We do find it rather odd that there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position,” Musk remarked on February 12. “We’re just curious as to where it came from.”
This IRS request comes on the heels of another controversial move by DOGE earlier this month, where the unit sought access to the Treasury Department’s massive federal payment system, responsible for handling trillions in government expenditures.
That attempt led to a lawsuit from 19 states and was temporarily halted by a federal judge.
So far, Musk and the administration have not disclosed the extent of DOGE’s access to federal data or what the team has done with any acquired information.
A former state privacy officer now with the Center for Democracy and Technology,Elizabeth Laird, expressed concerns about the potential risks, stating, “People who share their most sensitive information with the federal government do so under the understanding that not only will it be used legally, but also handled securely and in ways that minimize risks like identity theft and personal invasion, which this reporting brings into serious question.”
Sources say a DOGE staff member visited the IRS last Thursday, holding meetings with different departments to understand how taxpayer data is collected and managed.
Initially, the White House claimed an IRS employee linked to DOGE had already been granted access, but quickly walked back that statement, later clarifying that the employee was expected to request access but had not received it yet.
The Washington Post, which first broke the story, reported that the IRS is considering a memorandum of understanding that could grant DOGE access to multiple internal systems, including IDRS.
When questioned about safeguards preventing Musk, whose companies hold billions in federal contracts, from using government data for personal or business advantage, he maintained that DOGE operates with full transparency.
“DOGE posts all of its activity on its website so all of our actions are maximally transparent,” Musk assured reporters.
As of Monday, the DOGE website featured a list of canceled government contracts and a message under its “savings” tab, teasing, “Receipts coming over the weekend!”
One insider familiar with DOGE’s objectives stated that access to IDRS would not permit modifications to tax records but would allow unrestricted viewing of any American’s tax filings.
The IRS rulebook explicitly prohibits unauthorized access, stating, “IDRS users shall not access the account of any taxpayer or another IRS employee unless there is a business need and access has been formally authorized as part of the user’s official duties.” It further warns, “Willful unauthorized disclosure, access or inspection of non-computerized taxpayer records, including hard copies of returns—as well as computerized information—is a crime, punishable upon conviction, by fines, prison terms, and termination of employment.”
While a federal judge in Manhattan has temporarily blocked DOGE’s access to Treasury data, a separate ruling has permitted the unit to obtain information from the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
As legal battles unfold, questions remain about how much access DOGE will ultimately obtain and how it will use the data it gathers.
