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According to the IRS, confidential information involving 120,000 taxpayers was accidentally exposed

Photo by Olga DeLawrence / Unsplash

In the coming weeks, the IRS will notify roughly 120,000 taxpayers who filed a Form 990-T that the agency unintentionally made public on its website. Filing a 990-T is mandatory for tax-exempt groups like churches and other charities that earn money from unrelated businesses. Individuals whose IRAs hold income-producing assets like real estate are also required to submit the form, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Exempted organizations are required to make their filings available to the public, while private individuals are not.

The government organization blamed a human cording error that occurred when Form 990-T was made available for electronic filing last year. Because of this mistake, a mixture of public and private information was made downloadable. In recent weeks, an employee uncovered the problem, which prompted an investigation and the removal of the improperly disclosed information.

The IRS wrote that the compromised information included both personal and business names and addresses. Information that could have negatively affected the credit of those affected, such as their Social Security numbers, incomes, and so on, was not made public. According to The Journal, which was able to save a copy of the file before it was deleted, the information included IRA earnings.

The IRS is still looking into the matter, despite the fact that it has already deleted the compromised data. Anna Canfield Roth, a Treasury Department official, also stated that the agency "has instructed the IRS to conduct a prompt review of its practices to ensure necessary protections are in place to prevent unauthorized data disclosures."

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