[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 54 (Friday, March 19, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13063-13064]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-6160]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4922-N-02]


Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of a Computer Matching Program

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of a Computer Matching Program--HUD and the Internal 
Revenue Service (IRS).

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as 
amended by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 
(Pub. L. 100-503), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on 
the Conduct of Matching Programs (54 FR 25818; June 19, 1989), and OMB 
Bulletin 89-22, ``Instructions on Reporting Computer Matching Programs 
to the Office of Management and Budget

[[Page 13064]]

(OMB), Congress and the Public,'' the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD) is issuing a public notice of its intent to conduct a 
computer matching program with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This 
notice supersedes a similar notice published in the Federal Register on 
June 21, 2001 (66 FR 33265). Under the terms of the agreement IRS 
agrees to disclose to HUD taxpayer mailing addresses as authorized by 
the Commissioner or her delegate pursuant to Section 6103(m)(2) of the 
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) for use in locating individuals to collect 
or compromise federal claims in accordance with 31 United States Code 
(U.S.C.) 3711, 3717 and 3718. This program is called the Taxpayer 
Address Request Program (TAR). It was established by the IRS to 
facilitate the retrieval of taxpayer mailing addresses from the 
individual Master File on a volume basis. The volume of addresses and 
the method in which the IRS maintains the information make computer 
matching the most feasible method of extracting the data for disclosure 
to other agencies. Using the TAR computer matching program, current 
addresses can be obtained from the IRS within a one-week period, 
thereby avoiding the expenditure of substantial federal resources in 
the manual execution of a matching process or investigations by a large 
workforce to ascertain the current address of individuals against whom 
the agency has a claim or indebtedness.

DATES: Effective Date: Computer matching is expected to begin on April 
19, 2004 unless comments are received which will result in a contrary 
determination, or 40 days from the date a computer matching agreement 
is signed, whichever is later.
    Comments Due Date: April 19, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, Room 
10276, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications should refer to the 
above docket number and title. A copy of each communication submitted 
will be available for public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 
5 p.m. weekdays at the above address.
    For Privacy Act Information and for Further Information from 
Recipient Agency Contact: Jeanette Smith, Departmental Privacy Act 
Officer, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street 
SW., Washington, DC 20410, telephone number (202) 708-2374 or FAX (202) 
708-3135. (These are not toll-free numbers.)
    For Further Information from Source Agency Contact: M.R. Taylor, 
Internal Revenue Service, Office of Governmental Liaison, CL: GLD: GL 
Room 16111R, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20224, 
telephone number (202) 622-5145 or Fax (202) 622-3041. (These are not 
toll-free numbers.)
    Reporting: In accordance with Public Law 100-503, the Computer 
Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, as amended, and Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB), Bulletin 89-22, ``Instructions on 
Reporting Computer Matching Programs to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB), Congress and the Public;'' copies of this notice and 
report are being provided to the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Office of Management and 
Budget.

    Authority: The matching program will be conducted under the 
authority of Section 6103 (m)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code and 31 
United States Code 3711, 3717 and 3718.

    Objectives To Be Met By the Matching Program: HUD expects that this 
computer matching program will enable it to quickly and effectively 
identify and locate individual debtors, and to obtain current mailing 
addresses of defaulted debtors.
    Records To Be Matched: HUD will utilize its system of records 
entitled, Accounting Records, HUD/Dept-2. HUD will submit approximately 
1,500 records annually of individuals with outstanding federal debts 
for matching purposes. These records are extracted from the Privacy Act 
system of records, HUD/Dept-2, Accounting Records, maintained in the 
following programs and automated systems: (1) Title I--Debt Management 
Collection Systems; (2) Section 312--Loan Mortgage System; and (3) 
Departmental Claims--Delinquent Debt Control System. The IRS will 
extract taxpayer address information from Privacy Act System of 
Records: Individual Master File, Treas/IRS 24.030, maintained at the 
Martinsburg Computing Center, Martinsburg, WV. This file contains 
approximately 20 million records of taxpayers who have filed U.S. 
Individual Income Tax returns.
    Notice Procedures: The IRS provides direct notice to taxpayers in 
the instructions to Form 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ that information 
provided on U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns may be given to other 
federal agencies, as provided by law. HUD agrees to ensure that each 
applicant, at the time of application, receives written notice that the 
information provided on the application is subject to verification 
through computer matching with other federal agencies for the purpose 
of locating delinquent debtors. Direct notice consists of appropriate 
language printed on its application forms or a separate handout 
provided to the individual.
    Categories of Records/Individuals Involved: The debtor records 
include these data elements: SSN, claim number, program code, and 
indication of indebtedness. Categories of records include: records of 
claims and defaults, repayment agreements, credit reports, financial 
statements, and records of foreclosures.
    Period of the Match: Matching will begin at least 40 days from the 
date copies of the signed (by both Data Integrity Boards) computer 
matching agreement are sent to both Houses of Congress or at least 30 
days from the date this notice is published in the Federal Register, 
whichever is later, providing no comments are received which will 
result in a contrary determination. The matching program will be in 
effect and continue for 18 months with an option to renew for 12 
additional months unless one of the parties to the agreement advises 
the other in writing to terminate or modify the agreement.

    Dated: March 10, 2004.
Gloria R. Parker,
Chief Technology Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-6160 Filed 3-18-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-72-P