Happy New Year 2025

Tag: IRS

‘Catastrophic results’: Union, taxpayer groups take stab at DOGE in latest lawsuit over IRS data access

In a lawsuit filed on Monday, multiple taxpayer and union groups alleged Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violated multiple laws in its quest to unearth and eliminate wasteful government spending.

The groups claim DOGE launched a “sweeping campaign to access highly-sensitive information systems” and violated laws that limit executive power, protect civil servants, and guard citizens’ data held by the government.

The agency, which was created by an executive order earlier this year, remains a temporary organization within the White House and is tasked with optimizing the federal government, streamlining operations, and slashing spending in just 18 months.

U.S. President Donald Trump is joined by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and his son, X Musk, during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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Noting recent DOGE action at the Treasury, Labor, Education and Health departments, as well as at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management and Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the suit alleges DOGE’s access to sensitive information systems “lacks statutory authority.”

Specifically, it claims DOGE violated the Tax Reform Act, Privacy Act and Administrative Procedures Act.

“The results have already been catastrophic,” according to the suit.

About 100 DOGE protesters gathered, fearing DOGE would cut the workforce at the Bureau of Fiscal Service. (Fox News Digital)

Without the court’s intervention, the groups said they were concerned about DOGE having access to sensitive information including social security numbers, individuals’ finances, and bank account information.

The lawsuit also asserted DOGE will have access to confidential business information, tax records and IRS investigations, which “could include investigations or reports pertaining to Mr. [Elon] Musk’s businesses or those of his competitors.”

“No other business owner on the planet has acces to this kind of information on his competitors, and for good reason,” lawyers wrote in the suit.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrives on Capitol Hill on December 05, 2024 in Washington, DC. Musk and his Co-Chair, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are meeting with lawmakers today about DOGE, a planned presidential advisory commission with the goal of cutting government spending and increasing efficiency in the federal workforce. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

DOGE SCORES BIG COURT WIN, ALLOWED ACCESS DATA ON 3 FEDERAL AGENCIES

The groups — the Center for Taxpaper Rights, Main Street Alliance, National Federation of Federal Employees, and Communications Workers of America — are seeking a temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo until the court has an opportunity to review DOGE and Musk’s actions.

Following the review, plaintiffs asked the court to declare DOGE’s access unlawful, halt its use of IRS systems, order that information obtained illegally be deleted, and establish new security protections.

The lawsuit was filed prior to a federal judge’s ruling on Tuesday to not block DOGE from accessing government data or firing federal employees.

Demonstrators rally in support of federal workers outside of the Department of Health and Human Services, Friday, Feb. 14, in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a request for a temporary restraining order, pointing to the absence of evidence showing the agency’s access caused “irreparable harm.”

However, Chutkan did question what “appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual,” referencing Musk.

She also expressed concerns about DOGE’s accountability to Congress.

‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’: DOGE’S TOP FIVE MOST SHOCKING REVELATIONS

Protesters demonstrate in support of federal workers outside of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Feb. 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Organizers held the protest to speak on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Last week, more than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general sued to temporarily restrict DOGE’s access to federal data about government employees, citing concerns about Musk’s access and power.

“There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual,” according to the lawsuit, filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez.

Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington also signed onto the suit.

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Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.

February 19, 2025
DOGE’s access to critical IRS system containing taxpayer information is imminent

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, will soon have access to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) system that contains sensitive taxpayer information, Fox News has learned.

DOGE has requested access to the IRS Integrated Data Retrieval System, which allows IRS workers to view taxpayer accounts.

Harrison Fields, the White House principal deputy press secretary, told Fox News in a statement that access to this system is necessary to identify fraud and fix the system.

“Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long,” Fields said. “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.”

WHAT HAS DOGE CUT SO FAR?

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump talk about DOGE’s efforts to investigate wasteful U.S. government spending from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11, 2025. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

The IRS website states that the system allows workers “to have instantaneous visual access to certain taxpayer accounts.” Other functions of the system include “researching account information and requesting returns,” entering transactions and collection information, and “automatically generating notices, collection documents and other outputs.”

The Musk-led DOGE will soon have access to an IRS system that contains sensitive taxpayer information, Fox News learned Monday. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)

Musk is leading DOGE to aggressively slash government waste when it comes to federal spending under President Donald Trump. It was created via executive order and is a temporary organization within the White House that will spend 18 months carrying out its mission.

DOGE PUTS DEI ON CHOPPING BLOCK WITH TERMINATION OF OVER $370M IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRANTS

The group has faced criticism over its access to federal systems, including the Treasury Department’s payment system, as well as moves to cancel federal contracts and make cuts at various agencies. Attorneys general from 14 states are suing to block DOGE from accessing federal data, arguing Musk and Trump’s administration have engaged in illegal executive overreach.

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The newly formed cost-cutting agency scored a win on Friday when a federal judge in Washington declined a request to temporarily block it from accessing sensitive data from the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Eric Revell contributed to this report.

Hillary Vaughn is a correspondent for FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network and is based in Los Angeles, CA.

Twitter: @hillary__vaughn

February 17, 2025
IRS to slash thousands of workers off the payroll: report

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reportedly cutting thousands of probationary workers as tax season ramps up, according to The Associated Press.

The announcement comes just days after the Trump administration instructed agencies to fire most probationary workers who have not secured civil service protection.

The layoffs could potentially impact hundreds of thousands of people, although the exact number has not yet been confirmed, the AP reported.

The Associated Press reported thousands of IRS employees will be fired.

TRUMP SIGNS ORDER INSTRUCTING DOGE TO MASSIVELY CUT FEDERAL WORKFORCE

In addition to the probationary cuts, President Donald Trump announced on Jan. 29 that federal employees would be fired if they did not return to in-person work by early February.

A buyout offer, which has been extended, has already been accepted by about 65,000 employees.

The Associated Press reported IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season, which began on Jan. 27, are not eligible for the buyout until after the taxpayer filing deadline, according to a letter sent recently to IRS employees.

The IRS said in January Americans have benefitted from increased funding. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with eliminating wasteful government spending and increasing efficiency, aims to cut $2 trillion from the federal government budget by eliminating programs and trimming the federal workforce.

In January, the IRS announced it was “working to continue the success of the 2023 and 2024 tax filing seasons made possible with additional resources.”

The Biden administration’s Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act devoted $80 billion to hire 87,000 new IRS agents, according to a September 2023 report from the House Oversight Committee.

The oversight committee claimed the funds were used to employ agents that specifically targeted middle-class Americans.

Former President Joe Biden provided $80 billion in additional funding to the IRS. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The past two filing seasons saw levels of service at roughly 85% and wait times averaging less than 5 minutes on the main phone lines, according to a statement from the IRS in January. There was also a significant increase in the number of taxpayers served at Taxpayer Assistance Centers nationwide.

“This has been a historic period of improvement for the IRS, and people will see additional tools and features to help them with filing their taxes this tax season,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel wrote in the statement. “These taxpayer-focused improvements we’ve done so far are important, but they are just the beginning of what the IRS needs to do. More can be done with continued investment in the nation’s tax system.”

The IRS expects to receive more than 140 million tax returns, according to the AP.

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The IRS and Department of Treasury did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, as of Saturday night.

Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.

February 16, 2025
Ways and Means chair calls for de-weaponization, overhaul of IRS after ‘lawless’ behavior

FIRST ON FOX: House Ways & Means Committee Chair Jason Smith is calling for a complete overhaul of the Internal Revenue System, demanding the agency be de-weaponized, and telling Fox News Digital that “business as usual at the IRS is unacceptable.”

Smith, R-Mo., wrote a letter to IRS Acting Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell on Thursday, calling for ongoing oversight of the agency to ensure it takes steps to “rebuild trust” with Americans after “lawless and politically motivated behavior.”

HOUSE GOP DEMANDS ‘IMMEDIATE ACTION’ ON ALLEGED RETALIATION AGAINST IRS WHISTLEBLOWERS

“The story of the last two years at the IRS is one of both failure and outright weaponization of the agency driven in part by the Democrats’ decision to prioritize hiring 87,000 new IRS agents to audit working families over providing basic customer services,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “There are too many examples of problems at the IRS to count.”

Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., wrote a letter to IRS Acting Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell on Feb. 13, 2025, calling for ongoing oversight of the agency to ensure it takes steps to “rebuild trust” with Americans after “lawless and politically motivated behavior.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

In the letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, Smith lays out concerns at the agency, including its alleged retaliation against the two IRS whistleblowers who brought claims of corruption and preferential treatment for Hunter Biden — Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.

Smith also pointed to the IRS’s support for $80 billion in mandatory funding that prioritized “aggressive audits over customer service,” the “failure to take aggressive action against tax-exempt organizations that have caused antisemitic chaos on college campuses, in American cities, and those that may be supporting terrorism” and more.

“Aggressive oversight of the IRS continues to be a top priority for the Committee, and the election results made it clear that the American people are looking for accountability,” Smith wrote. “President Trump has shown in his first three weeks that he meant what he said during the presidential campaign.”

HOUSE GOP PROBES WHETHER SPECIAL COUNSEL OFFICE HELPED RETALIATE AGAINST HUNTER BIDEN WHISTLEBLOWERS

Smith said the government “has not been working effectively for the American people, and it needs to change.”

“We will be watching closely to make certain that the IRS timely complies with all laws, executive orders, direction from the secretary of the Treasury, and requests from the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance,” Smith said.

“Business as usual at the IRS is unacceptable,” Rep. Jason Smith told Fox News Digital. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Smith told Fox News Digital that the agency has “acted outside its authority by refusing to apply the law when it hurts Democrats, like in the case of delaying the unpopular $600 Venmo reporting law, and by promoting Democrat interests without authorization, like when it turned a tiny feasibility study into a massive Direct File program costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“We know that the IRS has retaliated against the two brave investigators that blew the whistle on preferential treatment for Hunter Biden,” Smith said, pointing to Shapley and Ziegler.

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“Business as usual at the IRS is unacceptable,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “The acting commissioner needs to clean things up quickly to meet the expectations of the committee and the American people have of the agency.”

Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.

February 13, 2025
Trump floats gutting the IRS, moving agents to the border armed with guns

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President Donald Trump floated moving nearly 90,000 IRS agents hired under the Biden administration to the border to patrol the area while armed with guns.

“On day one, I immediately halted the hiring of any new IRS agents. They hired, or tried to hire, 88,000 new workers to go after you. And we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we’ll move them to the border. And I think we’re going to move them to the border,” Trump said during a rally at Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday evening.

“Where they’re allowed to carry guns, you know, they’re so strong on guns, but these people are allowed to carry guns, so we’ll probably move them to the border,” he continued. Certain special IRS agents are permitted to carry firearms as part of their duties, according to IRS Code, 26 U.S. Code § 7608.

Trump joined supporters in Las Vegas this weekend after touring destruction in North Carolina left by Hurricane Helene in September, as well as California, where he toured Los Angeles and met with local leaders about the wildfires that have ripped through the area this month.

TRUMP VOWS TO DELIVER ON ‘NO TAX ON TIPS’ CAMPAIGN PROMISE DURING LAS VEGAS SPEECH: ‘100% YOURS’

President Donald Trump speaks about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)

While floating moving the thousands of IRS agents to the border, Trump also suggested ending income tax across the board, saying his plans on tariffs could fill the financial gaps.

“How about just no tax,” he said to cheers, while he chuckled. “You could do that. You know if the tariffs work out like I think, a thing like that could happen, if you want to know the truth.”

‘FLOODING THE ZONE’ TRUMP HITS WARP SPEED IN FIRST WEEK BACK IN OFFICE

“Years ago, 1870 to 1913, we didn’t have an income tax. We had, what we had is tariffs, where foreign countries came in and they stole our jobs, they stole our companies, they stole our product. They ripped us off. And, you know, they used to do numbers. And then we went to tariff, a tariff system. And the tariff system made so much money. It was when we were the richest from 1870 to 1930. Then we came in with the – brilliantly came in – with an income tax,” he continued, explaining the Great Depression rocked the U.S. shortly after moving away from the tariff system of the 1800s and early 1900s.

Immigrants try to pass over razor wire after crossing the border into El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Democrats in 2022 approved $80 billion in funding for the IRS, including to hire roughly 87,000 new agents across a 10-year period as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law that year.

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Trump’s Vegas speech focused on taxes, hearkening back to his June campaign rally in the state when he first announced he would eliminate taxes on tips.

President Donald Trump departs after speaking about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)

“Any worker who relies on tips [as] income, your tips will be 100% yours,” Trump said on Saturday in the city that is run by service workers at flashy hotels and casinos and restaurants.

IRS documents (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

DEMOCRATS HIRE ARMY OF AGENTS AT IRS TO SQUEEZE HONEST TAXPAYERS FOR GREEN NEW DEAL

Trump also touted that a handful of his campaign promises are already unfolding into real results, including withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO) and dismantling some federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.

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“We got rid of the woke crap,” Trump said Saturday. “A lot of crap… you know, these people were petrified of it. I’ll tell you, these companies, they run these big companies, they were petrified of it.”

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

January 26, 2025