FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT ANNUAL REPORT 

 INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE 

 Fiscal Year 2005 

 October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005 

I. Basic Information Regarding the Report 

 A. Questions concerning this report may be directed to: 

 

 Chief, Disclosure 

 Internal Revenue Service 

 1111 Constitution Avenue, N,W. 

 Washington, DC 20224 

 SE:S:CLD:GLD 

 B. This report is available on the internet 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. FOIA requests for IRS records may be sent to any IRS Disclosure Office. Addresses are listed 

in the IRS FOIA regulations at 26 C.F.R. 701.602 or are available on the Internet at: IRS 

Disclosure Offices. 

 Time Ranges of Responses 

 B. Response times are from 0 to 921 days, with an average response time of 30 days. 

 Why Some Requests are Not Granted 

 C. The majority of the requests denied by the IRS are requests for confidential tax information 

being sought by individuals who are not authorized to receive it or are 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. 

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 records. Generally 

used to withhold Currency Transaction Reports. 
2 

26 U.S.C. 6105 Internal Revenue Code 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. 

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

This provision is used to withhold the unsuccessful bidder’s contract 

proposal as well as information in the winning solicitation that was not 

incorporated into the contract. 

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); Gillin v. IRS, No. 90-31 (D.N.H. Apr. 15, 1991), 

aff’d, 980 F.2d 819 (1st Cir. 1992); Casa Investors, Ltd. v. Gibbs, No. 88-

2485, 1990 WL 180703 (D.D.C. Oct. 11, 1990) and others. 

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). 

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). 

18 U.S.C. 701 Not litigated. 

 41 U.S.C. 253(b) Not litigated. 

V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests
3 

A. Number of initial requests: 

1. Requests Pending as of 10/01/04 3,534 

2. Requests Received during FY 2005 41,912 

3. Requests Processed during FY 2005 42,533 

4. Requests Pending as of 09/30/05 2,913 

 B. Disposition of initial requests: 

1. Total Grants 16,650 

2. Partial Grants 2,637 

3. Total Denials 428 

3.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) 557 (b)(7)(E) 1,070 

(b)(2) 176 (b)(7)(A) 658 (b)(7)(F) 12 

(b)(3) 2,489 (b)(7)(B) 2 (b)(8) 0 

(b)(4) 33 (b)(7)(C) 851 (b)(9) 0 

(b)(5) 463 (b)(7)(D) 66 
4 

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

Total of Others (as categorized below) 22,818 

No Records 11,795 

Referrals 1,054 

Requests Withdrawn 256 

Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 6,274 

Misc. other reasons for not processing a request* 3,439 

*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 2005 244 

2. Processed during FY 2005 324 

B. Disposition of appeals. 

1. Completely upheld 283 

2. Partially reversed 23 

3. Completely reversed 9 

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) 27 (b)(7)(E) 27 

 

(b)(2) 4 (b)(7)(A) 5 (b)(7)(F) 6 
5 

(b)(3) 67 (b)(7)(B) 0 (b)(8) 0 

(b)(4) 0 (b)(7)(C) 33 

 

(b)(9) 1 

(b)(5) 23 (b)(7)(D) 12 

 

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

Total of Others (as categorized below) 9 

a. No Records 0 

b. Referrals 1 

c. Withdrawn 1 

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 7 

i. Other (litigation due to failure to respond) 0 

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 42,533 

b. Median number of days to process 21 

Expedited Requests 
6 

a. Number of requests processed 0 

b. Median number of days to process N/A 

2. Status of pending requests (as of September 30, 2005): 

 

Number of requests pending 2,913 

Median age of pending cases 22 

VIII. Comparison with Previous Year (Optional). Comparison not made. 

 IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing

A.1. Staffing levels, given in number of positions in agency: 

Full-time FOIA personnel 4 

Personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties 

(composite total, in work years) 

 

 81 

 

Total personnel (in composite work years) 85 

 

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

FOIA processing (including appeals) $10,312,722 

Litigation related activities (estimated) 698,611 

Total Costs $11,011,333 

X. Fees 

A. Total fees collected by the agency during FY 

2005 

$ 201,332 

B. Percentage of total costs 1.8%