FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT ANNUAL REPORT

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

Fiscal Year 2003

October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003

I. Basic Information Regarding the Report

A. Questions concerning this report may be directed to:

Director, Office of Disclosure

Internal Revenue Service

1111 Constitution Avenue, N,W.

Washington, DC 20224

B. This report is available on the web at: http://www.irs.gov/foia/index.html

C. Copies of this report may be requested at the address provided in A. above.

II. How to Make a FOIA Request

A. Name and addresses of offices that receive FOIA requests.

• Please refer to Treasury Department consolidated Annual Report to Congress.

B. Time Ranges of Responses.

• Response times are from 1 to 1196 days, with an average response time of 34 days.

C. Description of why some requests are not granted.

• The majority of denials are requests for confidential tax information being sought by 

individuals who are not authorized to receive it or requests related to tax investigations, 

the disclosure of which might impair federal tax administration.

 III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in Report

A. Agency Specific None.

B. Basic Terms Please see consolidated Treasury Report.
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 IV. Supporting Statutes Used with Exemption (b)(3) 

A.1. Listing and brief description of type of information withheld under each statute:

26 U.S.C. 6103 Confidentiality of Returns and Return Information: Prohibits the 

disclosure of;

(1) tax returns and return information of third party taxpayers (section 

6103(a));

(2) the standards used for selection of returns for examination (section 

6103(b)(2)); and

(3) a requester’s own return information if the release would seriously 

impair federal tax administration (section 6103(e)(7)). 

31 U.S.C. 5319 Bank Secrecy Act Records: Prohibits the disclosure of BSA records. 

Generally used to withhold Currency Transaction Reports.

26 U.S.C. 6105 Newly codified Section 6105 protects records provided by foreign 

governments provided for use in tax administration.

Rule 6(e) Part of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure − Grand Jury Secrecy: 

regulates matters occurring before the Grand Jury. Used to withhold 

records used in Grand Jury proceedings.

18 U.S.C. 701 Official Badges, identification cards. Prohibits the reproduction of 

official identification media. Used to withhold copies of IRS employee 

identification badges and pocket commissions.

5 U.S.C. 7114 Delineates the rights and duties of a labor organization which is the 

exclusive representative of the employees in the unit it represents.

5 U.S.C. App. 107(a). Ethics in Government Act, Appendix, provides for confidential reporting 

of the financial disclosure requirements of certain Federal personnel.
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A.2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute:

26 U.S.C. 6103 Church of Scientology v. IRS, 484 U.S. 9 (1987); Aronson v. IRS,

973 F.2d 962 (1st Cir. 1992); Stebbins v. Sullivan, No. 90-5361, slip 

op. at 1 (D.C. Cir. July 22, 1992); Wishart v. Commissioner, C-97-

20614-SW (N.D. Cal., decided August 6, 1998); and others.

31 U.S.C. 5319 Small v. IRS, 820 F. Supp. 163 (D.N.J. 1992)

26 U.S.C. 6105 Tax Analysts v. IRS, No. 99-0372, 2002 WL 1791162 (D.D.C. Aug. 

6, 2002)

Rule 6(e) Fund for Constitutional Gov’t v. National Archives & Records 

Service, 656 F. 2nd 856, 867 (D.C. Cir. 1981); Walston v. U.S. 

Department of Justice, 799 F. Supp. 193, 195 (D.D.C. 1992).

18 U.S.C. 701 Not litigated.

26 U.S.C. 6105 Tax Analysts v. IRS, No. 99-0372, 2002 WL 1791162 (D.D.C. Aug. 

6, 2002)

5 U.S.C. 7114 Dublin v. Dept. of the Treasury, 555 F. Supp. 408, 412 (N.D. Ga. 

1981), aff’d, 697 F.2d 1093 (unpublished table decision): NTEU v. 

OPM, No. 76-695, slip op at 49 D.D.C. July 9, 1979).

5 U.S.C. App. 107(a). Not litigated.
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V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests

A. Number of initial requests:

1. Requests Pending as of 10/01/02 4,258

2. Requests Received during FY 2003 50,605

3. Requests Processed during FY 2003 50,767

4. Requests Pending as of 09/30/03 4,096

B. Disposition of initial requests:

1. Total Grants 20,042

2. Partial Grants 2,798

3. Total Denials 515

a. Number of times each FOIA exemption was used (counting each exemption

once per case):

Exemption Use Exemption Use Exemption Use

(b)(1) 0 (b)(6) 575 (b)(7)(E) 1232

(b)(2) 100 (b)(7)(A) 499 (b)(7)(F) 6

(b)(3) 2599 (b)(7)(B) 2 (b)(8) 0 

(b)(4) 27 (b)(7)(C) 941 (b)(9) 0 

(b)(5) 424 (b)(7)(D) 218
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4. Other reasons for non-disclosure of requested information:

Total of Others (as categorized below) 27,412

No Records 13,337

Referrals 2,196

Request Withdrawn 288

Fee-related reason 0

Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 8,893

Misc. other reasons for not processing a request* 2,698

*Closed without determination because an appeal was filed; the records had previously 

been provided to the requester; or, the requester had not paid the fee from a previous 

request.

VI. Appeal of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests

A. Number of appeals:

 

1. Received during FY 2003 575

2. Processed during FY 2003 675

B. Disposition of appeals.

1. Completely upheld 535

2. Partially reversed 16

3. Completely reversed 5
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3.a. Number of times each FOIA exemption was used in a completely or partially upheld 

appeal case (counting each exemption once per case):

Exemption Use Exemption Use Exemption Use

(b)(1) 1 (b)(6) 33 (b)(7)(E) 15

(b)(2) 10 (b)(7)(A) 5 (b)(7)(F) 0

(b)(3) 64 (b)(7)(B) 0 (b)(8) 0

(b)(4) 1 (b)(7)(C) 6 (b)(9) 0

(b)(5) 5 (b)(7)(D) 3

4. Other reasons for non-disclosure during appeal process:

Total of Others (as categorized below) 119

a. No Records 0

b. Referrals 0

c. Withdrawn 0

d. Fee-related 0

e. Records not reasonably described 0

f. Treated as a non-appeal 0

g. Not an agency record 0

h. Duplicate request 0

i. Other (litigation due to failure to respond) 0
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VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests

1. Median time for processing requests:

Simple Requests

a. Number of requests processed 0

b. Median number of days to process N/A

Complex Requests

a. Number of requests processed 50,767

b. Median number of days to process 24

Expedited Requests

a. Number of request processed 0

b. Median number of days to process N/A

2. Status of pending requests (as of September 30, 2002):

 

Number of requests pending 4,096

Median age of pending cases 24

VIII. Comparison with Previous Year (Optional). Comparison not made.
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IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing

A. Staffing levels, given in number of positions in agency:

Full-time FOIA personnel 15

Personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties 

(composite total, in work years) 89

Total personnel (in composite work years) 

 104

2. Total costs (including all staff and resources):

FOIA processing (including appeals) $10,202,769

Litigation related activities (estimated) 19,902

Total Costs $10,222,671

X. Fees

Total fees collected by the agency during FY 2002 $ 154,546

Percentage of total costs 1.5%