Privacy Act of 1974: Computer Matching Program

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service

Privacy Act of 1974: Computer Matching Program

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service, Treasury.

[[Page 39119]]

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Privacy Act of 1974, as

amended, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on

the Conduct of Matching Programs, notice is hereby given of the conduct

of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program of computer matches.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice will be effective August 20, 1998, unless

comments dictate otherwise.

ADDRESSES: Comments or inquiries may be mailed to the Chief Inspector,

Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

20224.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Jacqueline Greening, Internal

Auditor, Quality Assurance and Oversight Section, Office of Planning

and Management, Office of Assistant Chief Inspector (Internal Auditor),

Internal Revenue Service, (202) 622-5911.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: IRS management is responsible for

discouraging the perpetration of irregular or illegal acts and limiting

any exposure if an integrity breach occurs. To assist in accomplishing

this mission, the Inspection Service has enhanced its conventional

audit and investigative activities with a program to detect and deter

unauthorized access (UNAX) by IRS employees to taxpayer information.

The Audit Trail Lead Analysis System (ATLAS) is a system designed

to detect unauthorized access to taxpayer records. It does so by

identifying IRS employees who have accessed taxpayer records using the

Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS) in a manner that appears to be

inconsistent with standard IRS practice.

One of the five IRS organizational strategies is to ensure public

confidence in the integrity of the IRS by a dedication to the highest

ethical standards. One of the ways that the Inspection Service supports

this objective is to provide IRS management an assessment of the

organization's ethical environment through the UNAX Program, which is

part of the overall Inspection Service Integrity Program.

Computer matching is the most feasible method of performing

comprehensive analysis of employee, taxpayer, and tax administration

data because of the large number of employees (56,000 employees access

IDRS); the geographical dispersion of IRS offices and employees

(nationwide); and the tremendous volume of computerized data that is

available for analysis (100 million IDRS transactions are generated

each month).

This program will be conducted using audit trails and IDRS records

generated from each Service Center. Four years of audit trail records

will be available to search.

NAME OF SOURCE AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service.

NAME OF RECIPIENT AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service.

BEGINNING AND COMPLETION DATES: This program of computer matches is

expected to commence on July 31, 1998, but not earlier than the

fortieth day after copies of the Computer Matching Agreement are

provided to the Congress and OMB unless comments dictate otherwise. The

program of computer matches is expected to conclude at the end of the

eighteenth month after the beginning date (January 31, 2000).

PURPOSE: The purpose of this program of computer matches is to detect

unauthorized access to taxpayer records by IRS employees. The system

will identify employees who have accessed taxpayer records using the

IDRS in a manner that appears to be inconsistent with standard IRS

practice.

AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 301, 26 U.S.C. 7213, 7213A, 7214, 7608, 7801, 7802,

7803, 18 U.S.C. 1030(a)(2)(B); and Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1952,

pursuant to Section 7804(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The

Computer Security Act of 1987 (Pub. L. 100-235). The Federal Managers'

Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) (Pub. L. 97-255). Executive Order 12674

of April 12, 1989, entitled, ``Principles of Ethical Conduct for

Government Officers and Employees.'' OMB Circular A-130, ``Management

of Federal Information Resources,'' dated February 8, 1996. OMB

Circular A-123, ``Internal Control Systems,'' dated August 16, 1983.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED: Current and former employees of the

IRS and contractors for the IRS.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS COVERED: Included in this program of computer

matches is information related to computer inquiries and entries to the

IDRS (Treasury/IRS 34.018) made by IRS employees: employee

identification numbers and employee social security numbers, command

codes used, taxpayer identification number accessed, terminal from

which access occurred, date and time of access. Information from the

Individual Master File (IMF) (Treasury/IRS 24.030), the Business Master

File (BMF) (Treasury/IRS 24.046), and the Treasury Integrated

Management Information System (TIMIS) (Treasury/DO .002) will be used

to obtain employee address and spouse's name.

Other information from these files not uniquely pertaining to the

IRS employee(s) but that could possibly establish a relationship

between the IRS employee(s) and the account(s) accessed will be used to

determine the actions or the effect of actions of employee(s) or to

corroborate declarations or statements by employee(s). From IDRS

(Treasury/IRS 34.018): Taxpayer identification number and tax period.

From IMF (Treasury/IRS 24.030) and BMF (Treasury/IRS 24.046): Taxpayer

entity information, including address, current and prior name, and tax

account status. From TIMIS (Treasury/DO .002): employee identifying and

locating information, including address, current name and name of

spouse.

Dated: July 15, 1998.

Shelia Y. McCann,

Deputy Assistant Secretary (Administration).

[FR Doc. 98-19343 Filed 7-20-98; 8:45 am]

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