Warren, Wyden Sound Alarm Over DOGE Access to Legally-Protected Taxpayer Data

Identifying potential violations of strict data protection laws, senators demand information on DOGE’s infiltration of IRS systems
Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell warning that personnel affiliated with Elon Musk infiltrating the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) systems could be in violation of strict taxpayer data protection laws that prohibit both the improper disclosure and inspection of Americans’ tax returns. The senators demanded copies of any memorandum granting IRS system access to any Musk-affiliated personnel, as well as justifications and records related to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) inspections of taxpayer data. The senators also sought to learn whether DOGE personnel have accessed or interfered with any work by the IRS Criminal Investigation division or moved any IRS data, including tax return information, from IRS systems to external servers or recipients.
According topublic reports, the White House is pressuring the IRS to agree to give software engineers working for Elon Musk at DOGE broad access to IRS systems, property, and datasets which include the private tax return information of hundreds of millions of American citizens and businesses. Potential access includes the IRS’ Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), which would give Elon Musk and his associates access to private bank records and other confidential, legally protected information belonging to American taxpayers.
“Even if individuals affiliated with DOGE are employed by Treasury, their access to tax information may not be legal,”wrote the senators. “For inspection of taxpayer information to be lawful, it must be made to or by an authorized person for an authorized purpose … To date, no information on DOGE employees or any others executing orders on Musk’s behalf have revealed any clear, stated purpose as to why they need access to return information, whether they have followed all required laws to gain access to IRS systems, and what steps the IRS has taken to ensure that inspection of tax return is contained to authorized personnel and not disclosed to any unauthorized parties.”
“No executive order requiring agency heads to provide DOGE personnel access to IRS records or information technology systems supersedes the federal tax code,”the lawmakers continued. “Software engineers working for Musk seeking to gain access to tax return information have no right to hoover up taxpayer data and send that data back to any other part of the federal government and may be breaking the law if they are doing so.”
“We are also extremely concerned that DOGE personnel meddling with IRS systems in the middle of tax filing season could, inadvertently or otherwise, cause breakdowns that may delay the issuance of tax refunds indefinitely. Any delay in refunds could be financially devastating to millions of Americans who plan their budgets around timely refunds every spring,”the senators concluded.
The senators requested the IRS provide clarity, including copies of memorandums, on the decision to grant Musk and DOGE access to IRS systems and a list of specific people who would have access to these systems, by February 21, 2025.
Senator Warren’s leadership has been instrumental in Democrats’ fight against Elon Musk’s takeover of government agencies:
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