IRS Mistakenly Published Some Taxpayers’ Confidential Data
- About 120,000 people had information mistakenly posted
- Erroneous data came from forms used for retirement accounts
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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The Internal Revenue Service mistakenly published confidential data for 120,000 taxpayers on its website before realizing the error and taking down the data, the Treasury Department said.
The IRS accidentally posted data from a tax form used by both individuals and tax-exempt organizations, the Treasury said in a letter to lawmakers on Friday. While information about nonprofit groups is routinely made public, that for individuals is supposed to be kept private. The Treasury said the IRS would contact all individuals affected in the coming weeks.