The Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to Internal Revenue Service computer systems that include detailed financial information about every taxpayer in the country, a move that has sparked outrage among Democrats and critics.
DOGE, the Trump administration’s cost-cutting advisory agency led by billionaire Elon Musk, wants to access the IRS Integrated Data Retrieval System. It includes information about taxpayers, businesses and nonprofits such as personal identification numbers and bank information.
The system also allows IRS employees to research accounts, request returns, enter transactions and collect information that allows the agency to generate “notices, collection documents, and other outputs,” according to the agency’s website.
Mr. Musk’s team is pressuring the IRS to consider a memorandum of understanding that would allow DOGE officials to access the data, officials familiar with the matter confirmed. The memorandum is expected to include allowing a DOGE software engineer to work at the IRS for 120 days to provide the IRS with engineering assistance and IT modernization consulting.
The IRS computer systems have long been criticized for being antiquated, with many still using coding language from the 1960s. DOGE team members have vowed to update out-of-date computer systems as part of its mandate.
The agreement would also require the engineer to protect the confidentiality of tax return information, shield it from unauthorized access and destroy any such information he gleaned upon finishing his time at the IRS.
The deal has not been finalized and the engineer has not gained access to the IRS system, the officials confirmed.
“This is a five-alarm warning,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez, California Democrat, wrote on X. He called the move an “illegal and blatant power grab.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said the agreement means “Musk and his henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America.”
On Monday, Mr. Wyden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, sent a letter to acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell. They said the proposal raises “serious concerns that Elon Musk and his associates are seeking to weaponize government databases containing private bank records and other confidential information to target American citizens and businesses as part of a political agenda.”
It’s unprecedented for a political appointee to access the IDRS system. Neither the IRS commissioner nor the agency’s internal consumer watchdog are able to access the system and its data.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said, “Waste, fraud and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for too long.”
“It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it, 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,” he said.
The president has openly talked about cutting costs and reducing the workforce at the IRS.
Meanwhile, a new social media account, DOGE IRS, launched on X. It issued a call Monday for the public’s help in “finding and fixing waste, fraud and abuse relating to the Internal Revenue Service.”
Taxpayers’ data is supposed to be closely guarded, and unauthorized access to or release of the information is a felony.
Both Mr. Musk and President Trump had their tax payment history leaked several years ago. Charles Littlejohn, an IRS contractor, was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking Mr. Trump’s tax data. Republicans heavily criticized the IRS for not doing a better job protecting the data and said Littlejohn should have received a harsher prison sentence.
The DOGE team has already spent weeks taking a microscope to federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, Education Department, USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mr. Trump has sought to eliminate or drastically cut those agencies.
However, DOGE has hit some stumbling blocks. After Mr. Musk’s team gained access to the Treasury’s payment systems, the move was halted by a judge. A separate federal judge also has halted the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the CFPB.
Mr. Trump has nominated former Rep. Billy Long, Missouri Republican, to serve as IRS commissioner, but he has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.