RFPA exception may support Federal Reserve information request

Number

201536018

Outcome

Advice

Document type

Chief Counsel Advice

IRS subject

SUMMONSES: Right to Financial Privacy Act

Topics

Income and deductions

Code sections

§ 3413

Ruling dated

June 3, 2015

Publicly released

September 4, 2015

Source

View Official PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page covers legal advice the IRS Office of Chief Counsel wrote for IRS staff, issued in 2015, which can't be cited as precedent. Ask about your situation and see what the current Code and IRS guidance say, with citations.

Not precedent. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6110(k)(3), this written determination may not be used or cited as precedent. It is advice from the IRS Office of Chief Counsel to IRS personnel on the facts they presented, and identifying details were redacted by the IRS before release. The official IRS release (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source.

About this page: The plain-English summary and ruling snapshot below were written by Ezel based on the official IRS release. The full text is the IRS's own document.

View official IRS release (PDF)

Plain-English summary

This brief email addresses a Federal Reserve information request under the Right to Financial Privacy Act. The writer believed the exception in section 3413 could supply the requested explanation of why the Act did not apply, while noting that the exception was more commonly used with information obtained through Title 26 summons procedures. The writer also believed IRS protections for return information would exceed the Act's privacy protections. The email left open whether the recipient could accept a commitment not to disclose the requested information outside the agency without written permission.

Ruling snapshot

Question: Can the IRS rely on an RFPA exception and accept the requested nondisclosure condition for Federal Reserve information?
Outcome: Advice given
Key authorities: Right to Financial Privacy Act § 3413; Title 26 summons procedures

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA-06031123-15 [Third Party Communication:

UILC: 75.12.00-00 Date of Communication: Month DD, YYYY]

Number: 201536018
Release Date: 9/4/2015
From: ----------------
Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2015 11:23 AM
To: ------------------------
Subject: FW: Assistance with privacy question

I don’t have any actual experience in dealing with the Federal Reserve, but my reading of item 6 and the exception found in section 3413 finds that it would serve as “a statement as to why the Act does not apply to the request.” I believe, however, that the exception is most often used in conjunction with summonsed information for which particular procedures are set forth in Title 26 . As to protecting the information, I don’t see that requirement enumerated below, but the protections that the IRS accords return information would more than satisfy any protections accorded by the RFPA.

Question for you, are you okay with the requirement in item 5 which states: “A commitment that the information requested shall not be disclosed to any person outside the agency without the written permission of the Board or its General Counsel.”

------------------------
-------------------------------
--------------------------
----------------------------
------------------------

What does the Code say today, for your facts?

This advice was written for IRS staff and cannot be cited. Ezel checks the current Internal Revenue Code and IRS guidance against your situation, with citations.

Opens in Ezel Pro.

Checks the law as it stands today, not only this page
Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
Chat, drafting and research in one workspace