New IRS Disclosure Information

Do You Submit Freedom of Information Act Requests?

The Internal Revenue Service is pleased to announce the modernization of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act case processing. If you are a practitioner who submits these requests on behalf of your clients, it is important that you know what this means to you.

The Office of Disclosure processes FOIA and Privacy Act requests for tax information. Disclosure will begin using a new software imaging application that will:

• Centralize receipt and control of requests
• Allow more efficient processing of requests
• Allow even distribution of FOIA requests throughout the country

The implementation of this automated processing, called AFOIA, is an initial step towards compliance with President Obama’s open government initiative.

IRS will begin to phase in the use of the new software starting with the western part of the country. Effective January 11, 2010, requests previously sent to Western Area Disclosure Offices in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah or Washington, should go to:

Internal Revenue Service
Disclosure Scanning Operation
2385 Chamblee Tucker Road
Stop 93A
Chamblee GA 30341

The remaining states will phase into AFOIA according to the schedule in the attachment. Please continue sending requests for records in these remaining states to the local Disclosure Office until the scheduled implementation date for those areas.

From January 25, to February 5, 2010, Western Area Disclosure employees will be transitioning to the new software and there will be brief periods of unavailability.