FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT ANNUAL REPORT 

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE 

Fiscal Year 2006 

October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006 

I. Basic Information Regarding the Report 

 A. Questions concerning this report may be directed to: 

 

 Chief, Office of Disclosure 

 Internal Revenue Service 

 1111 Constitution Avenue, N,W. 

 Washington, DC 20224 

 SE:S:CLD:GLD:D:Room 7562 

 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 1719 days, with an average response time of 38 calendar 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 Confidentiality of information arising under treaty obligations. 

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
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A. Number of initial requests: 

1. Requests Pending as of 10/01/05 2,913 

2. Requests Received during FY 2006 24,561 

3. Requests Processed during FY 2006 25,404 

4. Requests Pending as of 09/30/06 2,070 

 B. Disposition of initial requests: 

1. Total Grants 11,071 

2. Partial Grants 2,257 

3. Total Denials 232 

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) 541 (b)(7)(E) 819 

(b)(2) 115 (b)(7)(A) 487 (b)(7)(F) 9 

(b)(3) 2,005 (b)(7)(B) 3 (b)(8) 0 

(b)(4) 34 (b)(7)(C) 855 (b)(9) 0 

(b)(5) 445 (b)(7)(D) 52 
4 

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

Total of Others (as categorized below) 11,844 

No Records 5,372 

Referrals 382 

Requests Withdrawn 251 

Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 4,185 

Misc. other reasons for not processing a request* 1,654 

*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 2006 239 

2. Processed during FY 2006 289 

B. Disposition of appeals. 

1. Completely upheld 257 

2. Partially reversed 24 

3. Completely reversed 4 

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) 21 (b)(7)(E) 40 

(b)(2) 6 (b)(7)(A) 48 

 

(b)(7)(F) 4 

(b)(3) 117 (b)(7)(B) 1 (b)(8) 0 
5 

 

(b)(4) 2 (b)(7)(C) 33 

 

(b)(9) 0 

(b)(5) 47 (b)(7)(D) 9 

 

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

Total of Others (as categorized below) 4 

a. No Records 

b. Referrals 

c. Withdrawn 4 

d. Fee-related 

e. Records not reasonably described 

f. Treated as a non-appeal 

g. Not an agency record 

h. Duplicate request 

i. Other (litigation due to failure to respond) 

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 25,404 

b. Median number of days to process 26 

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, 2006): 

 

Number of requests pending 2,070 

Median age of pending cases 25 

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 6 

Personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties 

(composite total, in work years) 

 

 66 

 

Total personnel (in composite work years) 72 

 

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

FOIA processing (including appeals) $9,686,572 

Litigation related activities (estimated) 445,476 

Total Costs $10,132,048 

X. Fees 

A. Total fees collected by the agency during FY 

2005 

$ 179,402 

B. Percentage of total costs 1.77% 

XI. FOIA Regulations. N/A 
7 

 

XI. Report on FOIA Executive Order Implementation 

A. Description of supplement/modification of agency improvement plan if applicable: N/A 

B. Report on agency implementation of its plan, including its performance in meeting 

milestones, with respect to each improvement area: 

1. The IRS is an active participant at FOIA Council meetings. 

2. The IRS has submitted monthly FOIA Performance Measures Reports. 

3. The IRS has provided the results of its reviews of its oldest FOIA cases. 

4. Since the adoption of the Department of the Treasury FOIA Improvement Plan in June, 

the IRS has emphasized processing of backlog cases with the result that the backlog 

inventory was reduced from 1054 at August 30, 2006, the first month in which the results 

of the emphasis can be seen, to 979 at September 30, a decrease of 75 cases or 7% in the 

total backlog inventory, exceeding the 5% goal which is set for December 31, 2006. 

C. Identification and discussion of any deficiency in meeting plan milestones, if applicable: 

N/A 

D. Additional narrative statement regarding other executive order related activities – optional 

1. The FOIA ending inventory was reduced by 29% during FY 2006. 

2. The IRS is piloting an automated FOIA system in 2 Disclosure Offices. This pilot will 

convert the current labor-intensive, paper based case processing operation to an 

automated environment, utilizing centralized receipt of all FOIA/PA requests, fully 

electronic case files, online redaction and review of documents. The test was started on 

October 17, 2006 and will run through March 16, 2007 after which it will be evaluated. 

E. Concise descriptions of FOIA exemptions 

Exemption Use Exemption Use Exemption Use 

(b)(1) 0 (b)(6) 541 (b)(7)(E) 819 

(b)(2) 115 (b)(7)(A) 487 (b)(7)(F) 9 

(b)(3) 2,005 (b)(7)(B) 3 (b)(8) 0 

(b)(4) 34 (b)(7)(C) 855 (b)(9) 0 

(b)(5) 445 (b)(7)(D) 52 

F. Additional Stats: 

1. Time range of requests pending, by date of request (or, where applicable, by date of 

referral from another agency): 

The range of open cases was from 0 days to 2306 days. The date of request ranges from 

September 30, 2006 to June 5, 2000. 

2. Time range of consultations pending with other agencies, by date of initial interagency 

communication: N/A 

G. Improvement Plan attached: N/A