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Internal Revenue Manual 11.3.13.2 (10-26-2007) Authority

1. The Director, Governmental Liaison and Disclosure, and his/her delegate, have authority to make FOIA determinations concerning records under their jurisdiction.

2. Officials who make FOIA determinations must request the recommendation of the function(s) having primary interest or issuing authority for the record(s) unless the same or substantially similar information has already been made available to the public or to the subject requester (as appropriate), or the determination is consistent with an established practice. Under these circumstances, coordination with the interested function or issuing authority will usually be unnecessary.

So, we come up with an original Freedom of Information Act request and send it in. The disclosure officer doesn’t just totter off, get us what we requested and send it to us. Instead, he/she goes, ‘This is different from anything I have ever seen before. I better request a recommendation from the “issuing authority”.’ And of course, the issuing authority will try and figure out how disclosure of the information will hurt the IRS and if it determines that it will its recommendation will be for obfuscation of the issue or for nondisclosure of the records all together.

Continuing from Internal Revenue Manual 11.3.13.2 (10-26-2007) Authority:

3. If the deciding official disagrees with the recommendation of the affected function, discussions must be initiated with the function to resolve the disagreement or to afford the function a chance to provide further justification regarding the recommendation.

Note: The recommendations may be useful in considering the application of FOIA exemptions to the records

Or, in other words, we are going to try and find a way to fit the requested records under the FOIA exemptions if we think disclosure will harm IRS.

Continuing from Internal Revenue Manual 11.3.13.2(3) (10-26-2007) Authority:

or may help to identify the harm which would result from the release of the requested records.

Or, in other words, we will be doing our best to “identify” what you plan to do with the information to get IRS personnel in trouble or to keep us from collecting your money.

Reminder: Recommendations are not binding upon the official who has the authority to make FOIA determinations and who must release or withhold records in accordance with his/her knowledge of the law.

4. Requests for records written by the Office of Chief Counsel or known to involve matters in litigation where the IRS is a party, or that would otherwise be of interest to Counsel shall be coordinated with the affected Counsel office.

Or, in other words, if somebody is trying to get a hold of records that will show how the Office of Chief Counsel has attempted to circumvent, or help others circumvent the law; or, that could possibly get the Office of the Chief Counsel in trouble, please let them know right away.

If Disclosure personnel are uncertain as to the Counsel point of contact, contact Branch 6 or 7 of the Office of the Associate Chief Counsel, Procedure and Administration, who can assist in identifying the appropriate Counsel office.

Note: In litigation not involving the IRS, coordination with Counsel is not generally required unless the responsive documents were written by Counsel or otherwise evidence Counsel interest or advice.

5. Requests for records originating in other Federal agencies that require coordination with the appropriate agencies will be forwarded to the following address: IRS FOIA Request, Disclosure Office, SE:S:CLD:GLD:D, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20224

6. See IRM 11.3.13.5.6 for further guidance related to records originating in another agency.

7. Requests involving the news media or subject matter believed to be of interest to the news media are to be coordinated with the Office of Communications, National Media Relations, through the local Public Affairs Specialist.

Note: See IRM 11.3.13.9.26 for a definition of news media requester.

8. FOIA requests for Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) records require special processing.

1. FOIA requests for access to TIGTA records, (other than those publicly available as discussed below) created after January 18, 1999, are processed by TIGTA’s Disclosure Officer and must be referred to:

TIGTA, Office of Chief Counsel, IG:CC: Disclosure Room, 7001125 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20005

Note: The Disclosure Manager receiving the request shall inform the requester of the referral. See 26 CFR 601.702(c)(3)(i).

2. Copies of records created prior to the move of Inspection from IRS to Treasury (January 18, 1999) may occasionally be found in an IRS file. For FOIA purposes, any determinations made regarding release of these documents must be coordinated with the Disclosure Officer, TIGTA. The IRS will make the final determination after considering TIGTA’s input.

3. Certain reports of audits given to the IRS by TIGTA, the operations manual, delegation orders, and other publicly available information, may be accessed by using the TIGTA E-FOIA website at: http://www.treas.gov/tigta/foia/available-documents.htm.

Note: If a FOIA request seeks this information, the requester can be directed to this website.

4. If a TIGTA Report of Investigation is part of an agency grievance file, it may be provided to the grievant in response to a FOIA request unless it is flagged. See IRM 11.3.20.12.2.

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