Who an IRS Employee Is Allowed to Tell About Your Case

Your tax information is confidential by law. IRC 6103 is the statute, and IRS employees are trained on it constantly, because getting it wrong can cost them their jobs.

That confidentiality cuts both ways. It protects you from gossiping employees. It also means the IRS often will not tell you things you think you have a right to know, like where your ex-spouse is living or what your former business partner is paying. Here is how the IRM draws the lines in a collection case.

The baseline: confidential unless the law says otherwise

IRM 5.1.10.7.4 (rev. 2025-04-24) states the rule plainly: returns and return information are confidential under IRC 6103(a) and may be disclosed only as authorized by IRC 6103 and the Treasury regulations.

IRM 5.1.22 (rev. 2026-06-25), the Collection disclosure section, lists its authorities, including IRC 6103 and the taxpayer rights to privacy and confidentiality in IRC 7803(a)(3). It also points employees to the Taxpayer Browsing Protection Act, which IRM 5.1.22.1.7 describes as making willful unauthorized access or inspection of taxpayer records a crime.

IRM 2.9.1.1.5 (rev. 2024-08-05) describes the stakes for system users: unauthorized browsing is a criminal misdemeanor punishable, upon conviction, by automatic termination and a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to a year, or both, plus the costs of prosecution.

You, and the people you authorize

You are entitled to your own information. IRM 5.1.22.7 says the legal basis for giving taxpayers copies of their own tax records is IRC 6103(e), and that a taxpayer or authorized representative has a right to information used to collect the tax liability, which includes a copy of the case file, subject to limits I cover in How to Get a Copy of Your IRS Collection File.

Your representative under a Form 2848 power of attorney can receive information and act for you. IRM 5.1.10.7.2 notes that Form 8821 authorizes a designee to receive confidential information but does not authorize that person to represent you.

There is also oral consent. IRM 5.1.22.8 says the regulations let the IRS accept an Oral Disclosure Consent from the taxpayer, or from a representative specifically authorized to appoint designees, allowing disclosure to a third party who is helping resolve a federal tax matter. It expires when the account issue is closed, and the employee must record the designee's name, phone number, periods and issues in the ICS history. The IRM notes it matters for hearing impaired or non-English speaking taxpayers who contact the IRS through a relay operator or another person.

Your ex-spouse on a joint return

This is where people are most surprised. When spouses filed jointly and later divorced or separated, IRC 6103(e)(8) allows limited disclosure about collection efforts against the other spouse. IRM 5.1.22.4.1 says that, upon a verbal or written request from a spouse or representative, the IRS must disclose whether it has attempted to collect from the other spouse, the amount collected, the current collection status and the reason for any suspension, such as unable to locate or hardship.

IRM 5.1.22.4.1.1 lists what employees may not disclose, regardless of how the request is made: the other spouse's location or telephone number, any information about the other spouse's employment, income or assets, and the income level at which a suspended account will be reactivated.

The IRM's exhibit gives examples. An employee can say a wage levy is in effect and how much is coming in, but not the employer. Can say the account is in bankruptcy suspension, but not which chapter. Can disclose a payment from a seizure, but not what was seized. Cannot disclose that the other spouse filed an appeal.

IRM 5.1.22.4.3 adds that if one spouse reports assets of the other, the IRS will accept and process the information but will not tell the reporting spouse the results beyond what is otherwise allowed.

How much detail the IRS will give about payments

The IRM's exhibit on joint return requests, Exhibit 5.1.22-1, is precise about payments. The IRS may disclose how a payment was collected, limited to the nature of the activity, such as a levy, a wage garnishment or a voluntary payment, but not the source, such as which bank or which employer.

It may disclose that the other spouse requested an installment agreement and the amount, dates and frequency of payments, but not anything from their financial statement. It may disclose whether an innocent spouse claim was filed or granted. It may disclose that a suit is pending to collect the joint liability and amounts it produced, but not the property involved.

IRM 5.1.22.4 notes that the same limited information may be requested verbally under IRC 6103(e)(7), while IRC 6103(e)(8) itself contemplates a written request, and that disclosure under (e)(8) does not apply to deficiencies that can no longer be collected because the collection statute has expired.

If you need more than these rules allow, IRM 5.1.22.4.2 tells employees to refer the requester to the Office of Disclosure and advise them they may make a Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act request.

Co-liable officers on a trust fund penalty

A similar rule applies to the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty. Under IRC 6103(e)(9), IRM 5.1.22.5.2 says the IRS may disclose to a person assessed the penalty, in writing and only on a proper written request, the names of others assessed the penalty for the same tax, whether the IRS has tried to collect from them, their general collection status and the amounts collected from each.

It may not disclose their location or phone number, information about anyone not assessed, their employment, income or assets, or the income level that will reactivate a not collectible account.

Third parties during an investigation

Collection employees can disclose some return information to third parties when needed. IRM 5.1.10.7.4 says IRC 6103(k)(6) and Treasury Regulation 301.6103(k)(6)-1 authorize disclosure of return information to the extent necessary to obtain information related to a collection investigation that is not otherwise reasonably available, and that this does not authorize disclosing the taxpayer's return itself.

IRM 25.27.1.1.1 (rev. 2026-05-06) describes the same authority and pairs it with the separate notice requirements for third party contacts. Disclosure authority and contact notice are two different rules, and both must be satisfied. I explain the notice side in Third Party Contact Rules.

Things the IRS will not tell you

Some information is withheld even from the taxpayer. IRM 5.1.22.6 says the IRS will not disclose that a case is based on an informant claim and will not disclose an informant's identity under any circumstances. When a taxpayer asks about the source of a case, the employee is told to say they will get back to the taxpayer and contact the Disclosure Help Desk before responding.

IRM 5.1.22.3 says Collection personnel are not the right people to ask about the source of an audit, and refers those questions to the examination function.

And IRM 5.1.22.7 allows withholding of information whose release would seriously impair tax administration, such as plans to seize assets or a possible fraud determination, as well as third party tax information.

Why this matters

Know what you can ask for and what you cannot. If you are trying to find an ex-spouse, the IRS is not your private investigator. If you are a co-liable officer trying to make sure the IRS is collecting from the others too, you can get useful information, but only in writing and only within the statute's limits.

And if an IRS employee discloses your information to someone with no right to it, that is a serious matter inside the IRS. Write down who, what and when. Confidentiality is a right, not a courtesy.