FOIA Advisor

View Original

FOIA News: TIGTA Releases Audit of IRS FOIA Compliance

Fiscal Year 2022 Mandatory Review of Compliance With the Freedom of Information Act

Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, July 28, 2022

In May 2021, the IRS completed the transition of processing cases from the Automated Freedom of Information Act System to FOIAXpress. TIGTA reviewed a statistical sample of 83 of the 3,188 Fiscal Year 2021 FOIA requests for which the IRS denied the requested information either partially or fully based on exemption (b)(7), replied that no responsive records were available, or closed the request as imperfect. TIGTA also reviewed all 34 Fiscal Year 2021 I.R.C. § 6103(c) and (e) requests documented in FOIAXpress for which the IRS withheld information from the requestor. While TIGTA determined that information was properly withheld or released in most cases, the Disclosure Office did not follow FOIA requirements when withholding or releasing information for 13 (16 percent) cases. The Disclosure Office properly processed all 34 I.R.C. § 6103(c) and (e) requests.

Read more here.