IRS records request router: routine access, Respond Directly, or FOIA

The FOIA request checklist

Under the heading "Form of request," 26 CFR 601.702(c)(4)(i) lists nine things a FOIA request to the IRS must do, labeled (A) through (I). The letter builder above covers each one. Under 26 CFR 601.702(c)(7), the IRS starts counting only when a complete request reaches the IRS office that controls the records, along with your fee agreement where fees apply.

The IRS FOIA guidelines page warns that the IRS may reject a request for "All records under my name and social security number" as too broad. For item (D), the regulation says you generally describe the records well enough when you give "the name, taxpayer identification number (e.g., social security number or employer identification number), subject matter, location, and years at issue" (26 CFR 601.702(c)(5)(i)). The letter leaves a blank line for the identification number. Write it in by hand, never on this page.

Deadlines

The IRS has 20 working days to decide. 26 CFR 601.702(c)(9)(ii) says the IRS makes its decision and mails notice of it "within 20 days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays)" after it receives the request. When it needs to collect records from other offices, or in other unusual circumstances the regulation lists, the IRS can send written notice and take longer, but 26 CFR 601.702(c)(11)(i)(B) caps all extensions at ten more working days.

If the IRS writes to say your request falls short, you can fix it and send it back. The regulation calls this perfecting the request. Under 26 CFR 601.702(c)(1)(i), the IRS closes the file if you do not send the perfected request within 35 days of its letter.

If the IRS denies any part of the request, you can appeal to the IRS Commissioner. 26 CFR 601.702(c)(10)(i) lets you appeal by a letter "postmarked within 35 days" after the later of the date of the IRS decision letter and the date the IRS sent the last records it released.

If the IRS misses its deadline, 26 CFR 601.702(c)(12) treats you as having exhausted your administrative remedies. That means you have used every step the IRS offers and may ask a federal court to review the request. The rule protects only a request that meets all nine checklist items.

Enter any dates you have, and the calculator counts working days against the federal holiday list in 5 U.S.C. 6103. It does not move a 35-day date to fix your request (26 CFR 601.702(c)(1)(i)) or to appeal (26 CFR 601.702(c)(10)(i)) that lands on a weekend or holiday, so act on or before the date it shows.

Where to send a FOIA request

The IRS FOIA guidelines page offers the IRS FOIA Public Access Portal, a secure website where you submit a request, check its status and trade messages with the IRS. It also accepts fax and mail, split by the kind of record:

• Personal or business taxpayer records: fax 877-891-6035, or mail to Internal Revenue Service, GLDS Support Services, Stop 93A, Post Office Box 621506, Atlanta, GA 30362.
• IRS policies and procedures not in the FOIA Library: fax 877-807-9215, or mail to Internal Revenue Service, GLDS Support Services, Stop 211, PO Box 621506, Atlanta, GA 30362-3006.

Before you ask for a policy or manual, search the IRS FOIA Library. The IRS posts many of them there for anyone to read, with no request.

Address an appeal to the Commissioner and mail it to IRS Appeals, 6377A Riverside Avenue, Suite 110, Riverside, California 92506-FOIA Appeal, the address in 26 CFR 601.702(c)(10)(ii)(B).

To ask about a request you already sent, call the IRS FOIA Public Liaison at 312-292-2929, the number on the IRS Freedom of Information Act page. Do not send the same request twice; the IRS FOIA guidelines page asks you not to submit a second one.

If you represent the taxpayer

A representative can use any of the three paths. For the Respond Directly Process, the IRS routine access page names "taxpayers and/or their authorized representatives." For a FOIA request, 26 CFR 601.702(c)(5)(iii)(C) says a person who asks for records about someone else must furnish "a properly executed power of attorney, Privacy Act consent, or tax information authorization, as appropriate." The usual documents are the client’s Form 2848, the power of attorney, or Form 8821, the tax information authorization. Tax Pro Account covers how to file them.

The trap: asking the IRS employee for a file and also filing a FOIA request for the same file. For a Large Business and International (LB&I) case, the IRS routine access page warns that if you ask for the same LB&I file both ways, LB&I may refuse Respond Directly requests from you, your firm or the client for 12 months. The page does not say that waiting for the employee’s answer avoids this. In an LB&I case, weigh that 12-month bar before you file any FOIA request for the same file.

Common Questions