IRS, DOGE sued by union groups over access to tax agency systems

As the Department of Government Efficiency sets its sights on accessing sensitive taxpayer data, a coalition of union groups and advocates is suing the federal government to block the Elon Musk associates from entering Internal Revenue Service systems.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Center for Taxpayer Rights, Main Street Alliance, the National Federation of Federal Employees and the Communications Workers of America allege that DOGE’s access to IRS systems has harmed their constituents’ privacy interests and exposed their private information to heightened risks.

The plaintiffs claim that IRS defendants — the tax agency itself, acting Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell, the Treasury Department and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — unlawfully permitted DOGE representatives to have “broad access” to tax return information “in an arbitrary and capricious manner that does not comport with historical or existing IRS practice or policies or consider the consequences of such access.”

The IRS defendants did not comply with statutorily required security protections for the data-rich systems they’re charged with overseeing, the lawsuit alleges, in addition to disclosing personal data contained in tax records without obtaining consent or following Privacy Act requirements.

DOGE defendants, meanwhile, are accused of breaching secure government systems and unlawfully disclosing the personal data of tens of millions of individuals.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to cut off DOGE’s access to IRS systems and order them to delete any information they acquired from those systems or devices after Jan. 19, as well as remove any software the team has installed on IRS systems while barring it from adding any additional tools moving forward. 

The lawsuit comes amid reports that DOGE intends to access the agency’s Integrated Data Retrieval System, which houses the tax returns and personal information of millions of Americans. The nonpartisan Data Foundation said in a letter Monday to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Finance and Homeland Security committees and the House Oversight and Ways and Means committees that granting DOGE access to the IDRS “during the height of tax filing season” raises concerns about data protection under federal tax code.

“This may understandably also jeopardize the accuracy of reported information due to political concerns in the current discourse of the country,” the letter states. “While the Data Foundation is not currently independently aware of any violations of statutory process or law, the sensitivity of this matter warrants careful consideration and robust, continued congressional oversight.”

The Treasury Department has been on the receiving end of other lawsuits in recent weeks for access it granted to DOGE surrogates, specifically in Bureau of Fiscal Service systems. Union groups sued to cut off DOGE from the systems, which contain names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, birth places, home addresses and telephone numbers, email addresses, and bank account information of Americans who have transacted with the federal government.

Treasury’s Office of Inspector General has since opened an audit into DOGE’s access to the payments system.