[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 139 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39118-39119]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-19343]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service


Privacy Act of 1974: Computer Matching Program

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service, Treasury.


[[Page 39119]]


ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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: This notice will be effective August 20, 1998, unless 
comments dictate otherwise.

ADDRESSES: Comments or inquiries may be mailed to the Chief Inspector, 
Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20224.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Jacqueline Greening, Internal 
Auditor, Quality Assurance and Oversight Section, Office of Planning 
and Management, Office of Assistant Chief Inspector (Internal Auditor), 
Internal Revenue Service, (202) 622-5911.

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 Inspection Service has enhanced its conventional 
audit and investigative activities with a program to detect and deter 
unauthorized access (UNAX) by IRS employees to taxpayer information.
    The Audit Trail Lead Analysis System (ATLAS) 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 Inspection Service supports 
this objective is to provide IRS management an assessment of the 
organization's ethical environment through the UNAX Program, which is 
part of the overall Inspection Service Integrity Program.
    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 using audit trails and IDRS records 
generated from each Service 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 is 
expected to commence on July 31, 1998, but 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 is expected to conclude at the end of the 
eighteenth month after the beginning date (January 31, 2000).

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: 5 U.S.C. 301, 26 U.S.C. 7213, 7213A, 7214, 7608, 7801, 7802, 
7803, 18 U.S.C. 1030(a)(2)(B); 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 (Pub. L. 100-235). The Federal Managers' 
Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) (Pub. L. 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 February 8, 1996. OMB 
Circular A-123, ``Internal Control Systems,'' dated August 16, 1983.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED: Current and former employees of the 
IRS and contractors for 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.
    Other information from these files not uniquely pertaining to the 
IRS employee(s) but that 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.

    Dated: July 15, 1998.
Shelia Y. McCann,
Deputy Assistant Secretary (Administration).
[FR Doc. 98-19343 Filed 7-20-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4830-01-P