[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 23, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1817-1818]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-778]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service


Computer Matching Programs

AGENCY:Internal Revenue Service, Treasury

ACTION:Notice

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SUMMARY:Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 
and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on the Conduct 
of Matching Programs, notice is hereby given of the conduct of an 
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program of computer matches.

EFFECTIVE DATE:[Insert date 30 days after publication in the Federal 
Register].
ADDRESS:Comments or inquiries may be mailed to Chief Information 
Officer, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20224.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Williams, Acting Project Manager, 
IDRS Monitoring Project, Systems Development Projects Management IS:D, 
Chief Information Officer, Internal Revenue Service, (703) 235-0171.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
     IRS management is responsible for discouraging the perpetration of 
irregular or illegal acts and limiting any exposure if an integrity 
breach occurs. To assist in accomplishing this mission, the Chief 
Information Officer (CIO) must assure that information systems are 
designed to detect and deter unauthorized access by IRS employees to 
taxpayer information.
     The Electronic Audit Research Log (EARL) is a system designed to 
detect unauthorized access to taxpayer records. It does so by 
identifying IRS employees who have accessed taxpayer records using the 
Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS) in a manner that appears to be 
inconsistent with standard IRS practice.
     One of the five IRS organizational strategies is to ensure public 
confidence in the integrity of the IRS by a dedication to the highest 
ethical standards. One of the ways that the CIO 

[[Page 1818]]
supports this objective is to provide IRS management with information 
on potential system misuse.
     Computer matching is the most feasible method of performing 
comprehensive analysis of employee, taxpayer, and tax administration 
data because of the large number of employees (56,000 employees access 
IDRS), the geographical dispersion of IRS offices and employees 
(nationwide), and the tremendous volume of computerized data that is 
available for analysis (100 Million IDRS transactions are generated 
each month).
     This program will be conducted in each Service Center on audit 
trail and IDRS records generated in that Center. Four years of audit 
trail records will be available to search.
NAME OF SOURCE AGENCY:
     Internal Revenue Service
NAME OF RECIPIENT AGENCY
     Internal Revenue Service
BEGINNING AND COMPLETION DATES:
     This program of computer matches will commence not earlier than 
the fortieth day after copies of the Computer Matching Agreement are 
provided to the Congress and OMB unless comments dictate otherwise. The 
program of computer matches will conclude at the end of the eighteenth 
month after the beginning date.
PURPOSE:
    The purpose of this program of computer matches is to detect 
unauthorized access to taxpayer records by IRS employees. The system 
will identify employees who have accessed taxpayer records using the 
IDRS in a manner that appears to be inconsistent with standard IRS 
practice.
AUTHORITY:
     26 U.S.C. 7602, 7801, 7802, 7803; and Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 
1952, pursuant to Section 7804(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 
The Computer Security Act of 1987 (PL 100-235). The Federal Managers' 
Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) (PL 97-255). Executive Order 12674 of 
April 12, 1989, entitled, ``Principles of Ethical Conduct for 
Government Officers and Employees.'' OMB Circular A-130, ``Management 
of Federal Information Resources,'' dated July 15, 1994. OMB Circular 
A-123, ``Internal Control Systems,'' dated August 16, 1983.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED:
     Current employees of the IRS.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS COVERED:
    Included in this program of computer matches is information related 
to computer inquiries and entries to the IDRS [Treasury/IRS 34.018] 
made by IRS employees: employee identification numbers and employee 
social security numbers, command codes used, taxpayer identification 
number accessed, terminal from which access occurred, date and time of 
access. Information from the Individual Master File (IMF) [Treasury/IRS 
24.030], the Business Master File (BMF) [Treasury/IRS 24.046], and the 
Treasury Integrated Management Information System (TIMIS) [Treasury/DO 
.002] will be used to obtain employee address and spouse's name.
     Information obtained from other files, such as those stated below, 
that may contain information not uniquely pertaining to the IRS 
employee(s) but could possibly establish a relationship between the IRS 
employee(s) and the account(s) accessed, will be used to determine the 
actions or the effect of actions of employee(s) or to corroborate 
declarations or statements by employee(s). From IDRS [Treasury/IRS 
34.018]: taxpayer identification number and tax period. From IMF 
[Treasury/IRS 24.030] and BMF [Treasury/IRS 24.046]: taxpayer entity 
information, including address, current and prior name, and tax account 
status. From TIMIS [Treasury/DO .002]: employee identifying and 
locating information, including address, current name and name of 
spouse.

    Date: January 11, 1996

Alex Rodriguez,
Deputy Assistant Secretary (Administration).

[FR Doc. 96-778 Filed 1-22-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4830-01-F