Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of a Computer Matching Program

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-3918-N-16]

Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of a Computer Matching Program

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of a Computer Matching Program--HUD and the Internal

Revenue Service (IRS).

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as

amended by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988

(Pub. L. 100-503), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on

the Conduct of Matching Programs (54 FR 25818 (June 19, 1989)), and OMB

Bulletin 89-22, ``Instructions on Reporting Computer Matching Programs

to the Office of Management (OMB), Congress and the Public,'' the

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is issuing a public

notice of its intent to conduct a computer matching program with the

Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Under the terms of the agreement IRS

agrees to disclose to HUD taxpayer mailing addresses as authorized by

the Commissioner or her delegate pursuant to Section 6103(m)(2) of the

Internal Revenue Code (IRC) for use in locating individuals to collect

or compromise Federal claims in accordance with 31 United States Code

(U.S.C.) 3711, 3717 and 3718. This program is called the Taxpayer

Address Request Program (TAR). It was established by the IRS to

facilitate the retrieval of taxpayer mailing addresses from the

individual Master File on a volume basis. The volume of addresses and

the method in which the IRS maintains the information make computer

matching the most feasible method of extracting the data for disclosure

to other agencies. Using the TAR computer matching program, current

addresses can be obtained from the IRS within a one-week period,

thereby avoiding the expenditure of substantial Federal resources in

the manual execution of a matching process or investigations by a large

workforce to ascertain the current address of individuals against whom

the agency has a claim or indebtedness.

DATES: Effective date: Computer matching is expected to begin 40 days

after publication of this notice in the Federal Register (December 21,

1998), unless comments are received which will result in a contrary

determination, or 40 days from the date a computer matching agreement

is signed, whichever is later.

Comments due by: December 9, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding

this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, Room

10276, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street,

SW, Washington, DC 20410. Communications should refer to the above

docket number and title. A copy of each communication submitted will be

available for public inspection and copying between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30

p.m. weekdays at the above address.

FOR PRIVACY ACT INFORMATION AND FOR FURTHER INFORMATION FROM RECIPIENT

AGENCY CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, Departmental Privacy Act Officer,

Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW,

Washington, DC 20410, telephone number (202) 708-2374 or FAX (202) 708-

3577. (These are not toll-free numbers.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION FROM SOURCE AGENCY CONTACT: M.R. Taylor,

Internal Revenue Service, Office of FedState Relations, 1111

Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20224, telephone number (202)

622-5145 or Fax (202) 622-3041. (These are not toll-free numbers.)

Reporting

In accordance with Pub. L. 100-503, the Computer Matching and

Privacy Protection Act of 1988, as amended, and Office of Management

and Budget (OMB), Bulletin 89-22, ``Instructions on Reporting Computer

Matching Programs to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),

Congress and the Public;'' copies of this notice and report are being

provided to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the

House of Representatives, the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the

Senate, and the Office of Management and Budget.

Authority

The matching program will be conducted under the authority of

section 6103(m)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code and 31 United States

Code 3711, 3717 and 3718.

Objectives to be Met by the Matching Program

HUD expects that this computer matching program will enable it to

quickly and effectively identify and locate individual debtors, and to

obtain current mailing addresses of defaulted debtors.

Records to be Matched

HUD will utilize its system of records entitled, Accounting

Records, HUD/Dept-2. HUD will submit approximately 40,000 records

annually of individuals with outstanding Federal debts for matching

purposes. These records are extracted from the Privacy Act system of

records, HUD/Dept-2, Accounting Records, maintained in the following

programs and automated systems: (1) Title I--Debt Management Collection

Systems; (2) Section 312--Loan Mortgage System; and (3) Departmental

Claims--Delinquent Debt Control System. The IRS will extract taxpayer

address information from Privacy Act System of Records: Individual

Master File, Treas/IRS 24.030, maintained at the Martinsburg Computing

Center, Martinsburg, WV. This file contains approximately 20 million

records of taxpayers who have filed U.S. Individual Income Tax returns.

[[Page 60368]]

Notice Procedures

The IRS provides direct notice to taxpayers in the instructions to

Form 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ that information provided on U.S.

Individual Income Tax Returns may be given to other Federal agencies,

as provided by law. HUD agrees to ensure that each applicant, at the

time of application, receives written notice that the information

provided on the application is subject to verification through computer

matching with other Federal agencies for the purpose of locating

delinquent debtors. Direct notice consists of appropriate language

printed on its application forms or a separate handout provided to the

individual.

Categories of Records/Individuals Involved

The debtor records include these data elements: SSN, claim number,

program code, and indication of indebtedness. Categories of records

include: records of claims and defaults, repayment agreements, credit

reports, financial statements, and records of foreclosures.

Period of the Match

Matching will begin at least 40 days from the date copies of the

signed (by both Data Integrity Boards) computer matching agreement are

sent to both Houses of Congress or at least 40 days from the date this

Notice is published in the Federal Register, whichever is later,

providing no comments are received which will result in a contrary

determination. The matching program will be in effect and continue for

18 months with an option to renew for 12 additional months unless one

of the parties to the agreement advises the other in writing to

terminate or modify the agreement.

Dated: October 29, 1998.

Leslie H. Graham, Jr.,

Deputy Director, Office of Information Technology.

[FR Doc. 98-29983 Filed 11-6-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210-01-P