IRS Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

ARCHIVED 2019-01-02, DATE APPROXIMATE · VERSION 20190102_rev01 · COMPARED WITH 20180404_rev01

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1<table summary="IRS Freedom of Information"><tbody><tr><td>Enacted in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, gives any person the right to access federal agency records or information. The FOIA is based on the presumption that the government and its information belong to the people.</td><td><ul><li><a href="http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:5%20section:552%20edition:prelim)%20OR%20(granuleid:USC-prelim-title5-section552)&amp;f=treesort&amp;edition=prelim&amp;num=0&amp;jumpTo=true" title="The Freedom of Information Act,&lt;br /&gt; 5 U.S.C. § 552">The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552</a></li><li><a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2017-title26-vol22/xml/CFR-2017-title26-vol22-sec601-702.xml" title="IRS FOIA Regulations, 26 CFR § 601.702">IRS FOIA Regulations,<br>26 CFR § 601.702</a></li><li><a data-entity-substitution="pup_linkit_media" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="d48fd586-f4ac-4b88-a8fe-1b1a44856af4" href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/policystatement11-13.pdf" title="Policy Statement 11-13">IRS Policy Statement 11-13</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>A 1996 amendment to the FOIA, required federal agencies to make many types of records available online. Visit the IRS&nbsp;FOIA Library to learn more.<p>New law, like the OPEN Government Act, as well as new policies, such as those issued by the President and the Attorney General, promote the spirit of transparency envisioned by our founding fathers.</p></td><td><ul><li><a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="8834c661-5eb3-449a-a599-ae52e7fe71fa" href="https://irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/foia-library" title="FOIA Library">FOIA Library</a></li><li><a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_public_laws&amp;docid=f:publ081.110.pdf">OPEN Government Act</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><p><b><span>Routine access to IRS records</span></b></p><p>The IRS offers routine access to other records through procedures designed to make access quick and easy. For more information, use the Routine Access link at the right. &nbsp;If you are working directly with an IRS employee on an open tax case, you can request information from the file directly from them.</p></td><td><ul><li><a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="2a92977d-d32b-4ae4-808f-d4a589447839" href="https://irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/routine-access-to-irs-records" title="Routine Access to IRS Records">Routine access to IRS Records</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><p><b><span>Formal requests &nbsp;</span></b></p><p>If you plan to make a FOIA request to obtain the records you seek, you may refer to the IRS FOIA Guide. IRS may withhold records protected from disclosure by one of the law's nine exemptions and it must withhold when disclosure of the records is prohibited by law.</p></td><td><ul><li><strong>IRS FOIA Guide</strong> <a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="c5abf8aa-308c-491b-bffc-b5d6e35f3638" href="https://irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/freedom-of-information-act-foia-guidelines" title="Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Guidelines">HTML</a>&nbsp;<a data-entity-substitution="pup_linkit_media" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="d7e2fa5c-4010-4d9f-9719-1112984cf2b3" href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/irs_foia_guide.pdf" title="Freedom of Information Act - FOIA - Guidelines - PDF">PDF</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><p><b><span>FOIA public liaisons</span></b></p><p>To assist FOIA requesters each IRS Disclosure Office serves as a FOIA Service Center and each Disclosure Manager is a FOIA Public Liaison. These liaisons are advocates for FOIA requesters to help resolve problems encountered in the process.</p></td><td><ul><li><a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="27fdd73c-4da2-4a3d-bfe1-4c9a97ba484a" href="https://irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/irs-disclosure-offices" title="IRS Disclosure Offices">IRS Disclosure Offices, FOIA Service Centers</a></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>
1<table data-a11y-ignore="tableDataShouldHaveTh" summary="IRS Freedom of Information"><tbody><tr><td>Enacted in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, gives any person the right to access federal agency records or information. The FOIA is based on the presumption that the government and its information belong to the people.</td><td><ul><li><a href="http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:5%20section:552%20edition:prelim)%20OR%20(granuleid:USC-prelim-title5-section552)&amp;f=treesort&amp;edition=prelim&amp;num=0&amp;jumpTo=true" title="The Freedom of Information Act,&lt;br /&gt; 5 U.S.C. § 552">The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552</a></li><li><a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2017-title26-vol22/xml/CFR-2017-title26-vol22-sec601-702.xml" title="IRS FOIA Regulations, 26 CFR § 601.702">IRS FOIA Regulations,<br>26 CFR § 601.702</a></li><li><a data-entity-substitution="pup_linkit_media" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="d48fd586-f4ac-4b88-a8fe-1b1a44856af4" href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/policystatement11-13.pdf" title="Policy Statement 11-13">IRS Policy Statement 11-13</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>A 1996 amendment to the FOIA, required federal agencies to make many types of records available online. Visit the IRS&nbsp;FOIA Library to learn more.<p>New law, like the OPEN Government Act, as well as new policies, such as those issued by the President and the Attorney General, promote the spirit of transparency envisioned by our founding fathers.</p></td><td><ul><li><a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="8834c661-5eb3-449a-a599-ae52e7fe71fa" href="https://irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/foia-library" title="FOIA Library">FOIA Library</a></li><li><a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_public_laws&amp;docid=f:publ081.110.pdf">OPEN Government Act</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><h2>Routine access to IRS records</h2><p>The IRS offers routine access to other records through procedures designed to make access quick and easy. For more information, use the Routine Access link at the right. &nbsp;If you are working directly with an IRS employee on an open tax case, you can request information from the file directly from them.</p></td><td><ul><li><a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="2a92977d-d32b-4ae4-808f-d4a589447839" href="https://irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/routine-access-to-irs-records" title="Routine Access to IRS Records">Routine access to IRS Records</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><h2>Formal requests</h2><p>If you plan to make a FOIA request to obtain the records you seek, you may refer to the IRS FOIA Guide. IRS may withhold records protected from disclosure by one of the law's nine exemptions and it must withhold when disclosure of the records is prohibited by law.</p></td><td><ul><li><strong>IRS FOIA Guide </strong><a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="c5abf8aa-308c-491b-bffc-b5d6e35f3638" href="https://irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/freedom-of-information-act-foia-guidelines" title="Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Guidelines">HTML</a>&nbsp;<a data-entity-substitution="pup_linkit_media" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="d7e2fa5c-4010-4d9f-9719-1112984cf2b3" href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/irs_foia_guide.pdf" title="Freedom of Information Act - FOIA - Guidelines - PDF">PDF</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><h2>FOIA public liaisons</h2><p>To assist FOIA requesters each IRS Disclosure Office serves as a FOIA Service Center and each Disclosure Manager is a FOIA Public Liaison. These liaisons are advocates for FOIA requesters to help resolve problems encountered in the process.</p></td><td><ul><li><a data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="27fdd73c-4da2-4a3d-bfe1-4c9a97ba484a" href="https://irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/irs-disclosure-offices" title="IRS Disclosure Offices">IRS Disclosure Offices, FOIA Service Centers</a></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>