Tax Experts and Advocates, Small Businesses, and Unions Ask for Urgent Intervention to Stop Unprecedented Breach of IRS Data

Press Release published with permission from Democracy Forward – August 20, 2025 New Details About ICE Access to Sensitive Systems at IRS Emerge in Legal Filing 

Washington, D.C. – A coalition of small businesses, a low-income tax clinic, and two unions is asking a federal court to issue emergency relief requiring the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to halt its unprecedented and mass sharing of taxpayer data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In just one week, the IRS disseminated as much taxpayer data to ICE as it has previously shared with all federal law enforcement agencies in a year. This data sharing is just one consequence of the IRS’s adoption of a new, unlawful data policy that imperils hundreds of millions of Americans’ sensitive personal data. 

The organizations working to defend privacy in Center for Taxpayer Rights et al. v Internal Revenue Service et al include the Center for Taxpayer Rights, Main Street Alliance, Communications Workers of America, and the National Federation of Federal Employees. The coalition is represented by Democracy Forward in the matter.  

Unlawful data sharing of taxpayer information

“After the Watergate scandal, Congress passed laws to protect sensitive taxpayer information that have been upheld for decades. Now, the Trump-Vance administration is unlawfully facilitating the bulk data sharing of taxpayer information with ICE. The dangers posed by these disclosures are real, imminent threats to core privacy rights. The administration’s ongoing rush to execute this dangerous policy will have disastrous consequences if not stopped urgently,” said Maddy Gitomer, Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward. “Democracy Forward is honored to represent this broad coalition to hold the administration accountable and protect the privacy of the American people.” 

“During the week of August 4, 2025, the IRS shared tens of thousands of taxpayers’ data within days of receiving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) request for the addresses of more than 1 million taxpayers, purportedly under a narrow exception to taxpayer confidentiality laws,” reads today’s filing. “The IRS’s recent implementation of the Data Policy at mass scale to share unprecedented quantities of taxpayer data with ICE at breakneck speed illustrates the unlawful and arbitrary nature of the Data Policy.”

Democracy Forward fights for taxpayer privacy.

The legal team at Democracy Forward on this case includes Daniel A. McGrath, Maddy Gitomer, Johanna M. Hickman, Robin F. Thurston, Steven Y. Bressler, and Skye L. Perryman.

The memorandum in support of a preliminary injunction is here. 

Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org. 

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