What is IRS Position on Freedom of Information Act Requests?
Posted on: February 28, 2009 by: admin
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Internal Revenue Manual 11.3.13.1 (10-26-2007) Background
1. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 5 USC 552, as amended by the 1974 Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act ( PL 93-502), the Freedom of Information Reform Act of 1986 (PL 99-570), and the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996 (PL 104-231), provides for public access to records and information maintained by Federal agencies. The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (PL 105-206) also affects the FOIA request process.
2. Prior to the enactment of FOIA, first effective July 4, 1967, there were no effective guidelines to help a person obtain information about how the government operated, and no judicial remedies for those denied access to governmental records. With the passage of FOIA, the burden shifted from the requester having to justify access to governmental records, to the government having to justify why information would not be released.
3. The premise of the FOIA is that the public has a right to know what goes on in government without having to demonstrate a need or reason, and a right to file an administrative appeal or a suit in U.S. District Court if denied access to records.
4. This section deals primarily with processing requests pursuant to Section (a)(3) of the Act for reasonably described records maintained by the IRS which are not required to be published or otherwise made available under Sections (a)(1) or (a)(2) of the Act. Note: See IRM 11.3.7, Freedom of Information Reading Room Operations, for the interaction of these provisions and maintenance of IRS’ Freedom of Information Reading Room.
5. Treasury Directive 25-05, dated March 1, 2000, establishes policy and procedures and assigns responsibilities for carrying out the requirements of the Act within the Department of the Treasury.
6. In October, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a new FOIA policy directive that the Department of Justice will defend an agency’s decision on FOIA exemptions unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records. The Attorney General’s new FOIA policy memorandum supersedes the FOIA memorandum issued by Attorney General Janet Reno on October 4, 1993. Attorney General Ashcroft’s policy statement pertains to the DOJ’s legal defense policy and does not contradict President Clinton’s FOIA policy statement of October 4, 1993, in support of government openness and accountability associated with the agency’s initial determinations. In this policy directive, the Attorney General advised agencies to make discretionary disclosures of information protected under the FOIA only after full and deliberate consideration of the institutional, commercial, and personal privacy interests that could be implicated by disclosure of the information.
7. Effective April 23, 2004, the IRS issued Policy Statement 11-13, Freedom of Information Act Requests. (Formerly P-1-192). This Policy Statement affirms the commitment of the IRS to administering the FOIA in a manner consistent with “the fundamental values held by our society, including public accountability, safeguarding national security, enhancing the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies and the decision-making processes, protecting sensitive business information, and protecting personal privacy.” The policy statement goes on to note that the “administrative cost and impact on operations involved in furnishing information in response to a FOIA request is not to be a material factor in deciding to deny a request unless the cost or impact would be so substantial as to seriously impair IRS operations.” Note: See IRM 11.3.13.7.2.5 for further discussion of applying these guidelines when processing FOIA requests and asserting the (b)(5) exemption.
8. All actions taken and determinations made in response to FOIA requests will be in accordance with procedural rules appearing at: * 31 CFR Part 1, and Appendix B; and * 26 CFR 601.702.
9. Treasury is in the process of issuing guidelines to change the identification of “Official Use Only” (OUO) documents to “Sensitive But Unclassified” (SBU). References throughout this IRM to OUO material should be considered synonymous with SBU.
10. Disclosure is in transition from the Electronic Disclosure Information Management System (E-DIMS) to a new management system, Automated Freedom of Information Act (AFOIA). During this transition, new initiatives, such as the inventory balancing system, may be implemented. All case processing must be consistent with procedures established by these new processes.
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