Elon Musk’s controversial DOGE team is reportedly seeking access to sensitive taxpayer information within the Internal Revenue Service as part of its investigation into government spending and efficiency – an unusual request that has raised concerns from lawmakers and from within the IRS.
Under pressure from the White House to comply with DOGE’s efforts, the IRS is reportedly considering issuing a memorandum that would give officials broad access to datasets and tax systems, including the Integrated Data Retrieval System – which contains taxpayers’ Social Security number, bank information, returns and more.
The memorandum, obtained by the Washington Post, would give DOGE team member Gavin Kliger, a 25-year-old software engineer, access to the system while he is based at the IRS for at least 120 days.
Kliger is expected to serve as a senior adviser to the acting IRS commissioner to provide engineering assistance and consult on modernizing IT, according to the Post.
The IRS, the service responsible for collecting federal taxes and enforcing federal tax law, has become the latest target of Musk and his team seeking to find any potential “waste, fraud and abuse,” and make suggestions to cut government spending and the federal workforce, and improve efficiency.
But it’s unclear why Kliger, as a political appointee assisting the acting commissioner, would require access to the Integrated Data Retrieval System – which was set up to protect Americans’ taxpayer data from falling into the wrong hands.
A source told CNN that the memorandum is expected to be signed “imminently.”
Typically, only certain IRS employees may access extremely sensitive taxpayer information within the system to fulfill a specific task. IRS employees who may access account information are subject to strict regulations and cannot access their own account, their spouse’s, a friend’s, a relative’s, another IRS employee’s or any account in which they have a personal or financial interest.
Violating those rules can result in termination, fines or even prison time.
Mark Everson, the former IRS commissioner from 2003 until 2007, told CNN on Monday it was “absolutely” unusual for a political appointee to gain access to that system.
“I never saw any of those systems,” Everson said.
“The access to taxpayer information needs to be protected, and I do think there are many ways to work on efficiency and look at the very legitimate issues that Mr. Musk is after without going into this particular system at this time,” Everson warned.
The former IRS commissioner said he would “caution” that officials should wait until the Senate approves President Donald Trump’s choice for IRS commissioner Billy Long before they give DOGE a role in the agency.
DOGE’s request has reportedly raised concerns within the IRS, three people familiar with agency deliberations told the Post. Lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee also raised fears about privacy violations to the acting IRS commission in a letter Monday.
Democrat Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden asked the acting IRS commissioner for more information on the memorandum, a list of DOGE employees working at the IRS, explanations for why the access is needed and more.
The senators said the reports raise “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.”
Harrison Fields, the principal deputy press secretary for the White House, said in a statement: “Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far 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,” Fields said.
