The IRS is poised to hand over unlimited access to taxpayer data to an advisor from Elon Musk's government efficiency group, according to a draft agreement seen by Bloomberg Tax.
The IRS would give a temporary detail at the agency to provide software engineering expertise to Gavin Kliger, a special advisor to the director at the Office of Personnel Management, according to a draft memo between IRS and OPM that has not yet been finalized. The draft memo was circulating within the agency this weekend, two people familiar with the memo said.
Kliger's responsibilities would include debugging, software testing, programming, and implementing safeguards to prevent fraud, the memo said. The temporary detail doesn't give Kliger, who visited the IRS last week, limitations on what taxpayer data he can access.
These types of memos usually outline a specific purpose or need to access the data, which the draft doesn't include, according to one person familiar with the memo, drawing concern over the purpose and how broad Kliger's access could be.
Tax return information is typically protected from disclosure to other parties but there are some exceptions including sharing data between state and law enforcement agencies. The terms of the memo are effective Feb. 14 and won't be exceeded until mid-June, unless the terms are extended another 120 days.
"Consistent with government-wide and presidential policy direction, the IRS has an immediate and critical need for rapid and thorough analysis available from OPM of the sort that the IRS is not equipped to handle on its own," the draft memo said.
The draft memo comes after 19 state attorneys general sued to block the administration from allowing political appointees and special government employees to access government systems. The judge last week extended restrictions on Musk's team's access to Treasury Department systems, an issue that has raised taxpayer data privacy concerns from Democratic lawmakers and taxpayer advocates.
Kliger's visit to the agency sent shockwaves among those at the IRS and the tax community. In his first meeting he questioned IRS leadership over areas to automate and compliance efforts.
It's not clear yet who Kliger will report to, according to the draft memo.
The IRS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. OPM declined to comment.
