The IRS admitted this week that it made a large unforced error, accidentally releasing confidential taxpayer data. The info for up to 120,000 individuals was exposed, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Data from some Form 990-Ts were accidentally posted by the IRS. Only 501(c)(3) organizations are required to post that data publicly, but the IRS accidentally published some of the Form 990-Ts for non-501(c)(3) organizations.
“The IRS is required to publicly disclose this information for 501(c)(3) organizations; however, similar information was inadvertently published for a subset of non-501(c)(3)s, which are not subject to public disclosure,” the IRS said in a statement. “However, the data does not include Social Security numbers, detailed account-holder information or individual income tax returns (Forms 1040). In some instances, the data does include individual names or business contact information.”
The report from the Journal noted that the information was able to be downloaded for a period of time before the IRS fixed the mistake. The IRS said in its statement that it was “continuing to review this situation.”
If you’re worried your info might’ve been exposed, you’ll soon find out if that was the case. The IRS said it would be contacting the people affected in the coming weeks.
