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 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT ANNUAL REPORT 

 INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE 

 Fiscal Year 1998 

 October 1, 1997 through September 30, 1998 

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 1000 days, with an average response time of 42 

days. Half of the requests take in excess of 216 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 except as specifically authorized (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. 

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. 

41 U.S.C. 253(b) Protects the solicitations of unsuccessful bidders in a competitive 

proposal. Used to withhold the unsuccessful bidders’ contract 

proposals as well as information in the winning solicitation that is 

not incorporated into the contract. 

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. 

Tax Treaty Clauses Foreign Tax Treaties ratified by the Senate protect tax information 

provided by foreign governments for use in tax administration. 
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 A.2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of the above cited statutes: 

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. 

 Note: In one decided case, Tax Analysts v IRS, Civ. No. 94-923 

(D.D.C. Apr 30, 1998), the court narrowed the scope of the (b)(3), 

supported by section 6103(a), assertion to only portions but not the 

entirety of the documents at issue. There are no cases in which a 

court rejected in toto the assertion of esxemption (b)(3) in 

conjunction with section 6103. 

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

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). 

41 U.S.C. 253(b) Public Law 104-201; not litigated. 

18 U.S.C. 701 Not litigated. 

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). 

Tax Treaty Clauses Treaties were ratified by the U.S. Senate; not decided by the courts. 

 

V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests 

A. Number of initial requests: 

1. Requests Pending as of 10/01/97 4,057 

2. Requests Received during FY 1998 30,942 

3. Requests Processed during FY 1998 30,224 

4. Requests Pending as of 09/30/98 4,775 
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B. Disposition of initial requests: 

1. Total Grants 14,415 

2. Partial Grants 3,299 

3. Total Denials 426 

B. 3. A. Number of times each FOIA exemption was used (counting each exemption 

 once per case): 

Exemption Use Exemption Use Exemption Use 

(b)(1) 8 (b)(6) 402 (b)(7)(E) 

(b)(2) 162 (b)(7)(A)* 2437 (b)(7)(F) 

(b)(3) 2853 (b)(7)(B) (b)(8) 2 

(b)(4) 51 (b)(7)(C) (b)(9) 0 

(b)(5) 692 (b)(7)(D) 

* The current inventory system does not differentiate between the various 

(b)(7) exemptions. Program changes have been requested to allow capture 

of such data in the future. Amount shown under (b)(7) A) is the total for 

all (b)(7) exemptions for FY 1998. 

B. 4. Other reasons for non-disclosure of requested information: 

Total of Others (as categorized below) 12,084 

 No Records 2,907 

 Referrals 1,791 

 Request Withdrawn 465 

 Fee-related reason 2 

 Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 6,157 

 Other reasons for not processing a request* 762 

* Closed without determination because an appeal was filed, or the records 

had previously been provided to the requester, or the requester had not 

paid the fee from a previous request, etc. 
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VI. Appeal of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests

A. Number of appeals: 

 

1. Received during FY 1998 1,384 

2. Processed during FY 1998 2,092 

B. Disposition of appeals. Number of appeals where the initial determination was: 

1. Completely upheld 320 

2. Partially reversed 104 

3. Completely reversed 61 

B. 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) 0 (b)(6) 38 (b)(7)(E) 49 

(b)(2) 2 (b)(7)(A) 12 (b)(7)(F) 0 

(b)(3) 114 (b)(7)(B) 0 (b)(8) 0 

(b)(4) 1 (b)(7)(C) 45 (b)(9) 0 

(b)(5) 15 (b)(7)(D) 6 

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

Total of Others (as categorized below) 1,607 

 Withdrawn 1,254 

 Treated as a non-appeal 333 

 Other (litigation due to failure to respond) 20 
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VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests

A. Median time for processing requests: 

 

1. Simple Requests 

a. Number of requests processed 0 

b. Median number of days to process N/A 

2. Complex Requests 

a. Number of requests processed 30,224 

b. Median number of days to process 216 

3. Expedited Requests 

a. Number of requests processed 0 

b. Median number of days to process N/A 

B. Status of pending requests (as of September 30, 1998): 

 

1. Number of requests pending 4,775 

2. Median age of pending cases 63 

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: 

1. Full-time FOIA personnel 17 

2. Personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA 

 duties (composite total, in work years) 87 

3. Total personnel (in composite work years) 104 

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

1. FOIA processing (including appeals) $ 9,321,672 

2. Litigation related activities (estimated) 1,242,657 

3. Total Costs $10,564,329 

X. Fees

A. Total fees collected by the agency during FY 2001 $115,851 

B. Percentage of total costs 1.1%