6.22.20

Taxpayers who are involved in a case with IRS attorneys can now exchange sensitive information by email.

Taxpayers who are involved in a case with IRS attorneys can now exchange sensitive information by email.

Taxpayers who are involved in a case with IRS attorneys can now exchange sensitive information by email, if certain conditions are met. In an IRS Chief Counsel (CC) Notice, the CC added two encryption options their employees can use to transmit email containing return information or personally identifying information to taxpayers or their representatives.

Before such email messages can be sent, the taxpayer must sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreeing to the use of encrypted email and acknowledging the risks of sending sensitive information by encrypted email.

The executed MOU must be returned to the Chief Counsel before any sensitive information may be sent by this method.