21848 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 3, 1995 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service

Privacy Act of 1974; System of

Records

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service,

Treasury.

ACTION: Supplemental information about

a proposed amendment to a system of

records.

SUMMARY: On December 20, 1994, the

Internal Revenue Service published, at

59 FR 65573, notice of an amended

Privacy Act system of records:

‘‘Compliance Programs and Projects

File—Treasury, IRS 42.021.’’ Based on

the comments received, the notice may

not have adequately distinguished

among the various users and uses of the

compliance system, as well as the data

it is to contain.

The system will not be used to

support large scale data matching in

order to identify specific individuals for

contact by IRS personnel. The IRS has

developed procedural safeguards to

prevent data used in the compliance

research programs and projects that

engage in large scale data manipulation

techniques to determine levels of

compliance in particular ‘‘market

segments’’ from being used for

enforcement purposes as to specific

taxpayers.

In light of the comments received, the

IRS will clarify the notice to better

describe more precisely the types of

activities covered. Until that

clarification is issued, the

supplementary information below fully

describes the compliance programs and

projects covered.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to

the Office of Disclosure, Internal

Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20224.

Comments will be made available for

inspection and copying in the Freedom

of Information Reading Room, (202)

622–5164, upon request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Wayne Thomas, National Director,

Compliance Research, (202) 874–0100.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

compliance research system presently

includes records to support information

gathering to identify noncompliance

with the Internal Revenue Code. The

system is being redesigned to identify

causes and trends of noncompliance

and to generate and test new approaches

to increasing voluntary compliance.

This redesign will be accomplished

by using an automated information

system and secure networks to support

compliance research on broadly shared

characteristics and compliance trends of

large groups. The enhancements

themselves, the personnel who will

access and use the enhanced system,

and the purposes for which it will be

used will be clearly distinguished from

other uses by enforcement personnel

who lawfully access similar records for

individual enforcement actions.

The enhancements will not include

maintenance of records with

individually identifying information

since compliance research will focus on

broadly shared characteristics and

compliance trends of large groups,

typically national in scope. The

personnel who use and access the

research system will not be enforcement

personnel. The system will not be used

to select individuals for enforcement

actions.

The enhanced system should provide

the Internal Revenue Service with a

wider range of options for improving

voluntary compliance beyond the

limited and costly current enforcement

actions applied to individuals, one at a

time. Information produced by

analyzing enhanced data will be

analogous to that used broadly in the

private sector under the name ‘‘market

segment research.’’ It will allow groupbased measurements of noncompliance.

Based solely upon an identified

significant degree of group

noncompliance, these enhancements

will further allow the construction of

group profiles or characteristics directly

related to tax compliance behavior.

Enhanced data will also permit

researchers to use statistical and other

research methods to determine the

issues and causes of noncompliance.

Against those issues and causes, new

initiatives at improving group

compliance will be vigorously tested on

a small scale. Research personnel will

oversee but not directly test or

implement such initiatives.

The enhanced system is intended to

support compliance initiatives that rely

more on group access and forums that

on contacting individuals; and more on

non-enforcement actions (e.g.,

legislative or regulatory revision,

education, assistance) rather than on

enforcement actions. Even in those

instances where an enforcement remedy

is appropriate, the enhanced system

itself cannot be used by enforcement

personnel nor can it select individuals

to whom such remedies will be applied.

This system of records has always on

a limited basis and with legal authority

contained information from various

third-party sources. The enhancements

to this system will add more

information from more sources. It will

also improve access to this information.

However, use of these enhancements for

the purposes of compliance research

will adhere to the operating principles

of such research: it will be groupfocused rather than individually

focused and not directly used to select

individuals for enforcement actions.

The minimum data about group

demographic and economic

characteristics that bear directly upon

measured group non-compliance will be

used. Unlike the common practice of

private-sector market research, these

enhancements will not include ‘‘lifestyle’’ or other highly personal

information even in aggregate.

Additionally, the Internal Revenue

Service recognizes its responsibility to

validate third-party data before they are

used to support even research activities.

Dated: April 16, 1995.

Alex Rodriguez,

Deputy Assistant Secretary (Administration).

[FR Doc. 95–10801 Filed 5–2–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4830–01–M

Office of Thrift Supervision

[AC–27; OTS No. 2952]

Gallup Federal Savings and Loan

Association, Gallup, New Mexico;

Approval of Conversion Application

Notice is hereby given that on April

26, 1995, the Assistant Director,

Corporate Activities, Office of Thrift

Supervision, or her designee, acting

pursuant to delegated authority,

approved the application of Gallup

Federal Savings and Loan Association,

Gallup, New Mexico, to convert to the

stock form of organization. Copies of the

application are available for inspection

at the Information Services Division,

Office of Thrift Supervision, 1700 G

Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20552,

and the Midwest Regional Office, Office

of Thrift Supervision, 122 W. John

Carpenter Freeway, Suite 600, Irving,

Texas 75039.

Dated: April 27, 1995.

By the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Nadine Y. Washington,

Corporate Secretary.

[FR Doc. 95–10806 Filed 5–2–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6720–01–M

[AC–28; OTS No. 5161]

Schenectady Federal Savings and

Loan Association, Schenectady, New

York; Approval of Conversion

Application

Notice is hereby given that on April

25, 1995, the Assistant Director,