Every year, Americans file 250 million tax returns with the IRS, handing over their most sensitive personal data and information: Social Security numbers, income, investments, debts, property holdings, charitable giving, business dealings. They do so because federal law requires it, and because they trust the government to keep it confidential.
That trust rests on Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, a post-Watergate reform that declared tax returns and return information confidential and off-limits to disclosure by government employees and contractors except in narrow, strictly construed circumstances. But when the IRS breaches that trust, the consequences are often negligible.
Read the full Bloomberg Tax article here.
This information is provided by Vinson & Elkins LLP for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended, nor should it be construed, as legal advice.