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IRS Pursues Exception from TikTok Ban in Order to Fight Tax Scams

 

The IRS is searching for ways to circumvent the TikTok ban so that some of its employees can still go on the site to combat tax schemes, Bloomberg Law reported.

Over the past nine years, IRS has focused on derailing tax scams and schemes, including those on social media, through a partnership with state agencies and tax professionals called the Security Summit, formed to protect taxpayers against fraud and identity theft. However, Congress' enactment of a provision in a spending bill that disallows TikTok on government devices presents a hurdle to the agency’s mission to stop bad actors from proliferating on the platform, Bloomberg Law reported.

Congress banned the social media platform in its fiscal year 2023 spending bill because of security worries about its Chinese ownership. 

Government agencies can request an exemption from the ban for certain activities, such as law enforcement and national security concerns. In the case of TikTok, the Department of Treasury would be the entity with the authority to grant the exception for the IRS.

In a recent interview, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said that the process has not yet been resolved, although they “are working through it,” according to Bloomberg Law.

Although the IRS made various efforts to abide by the law banning TikTok use, a December report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) said that 23 mobile devices used by the IRS’s Communications and Liaison group to monitor social media sites had access to the TikTok website and could also download the TikTok application. The IRS has resolved the issue.

TIGTA also reported that "the IRS does not comply with the [Office of Management and Budget's] mandate as computers and mobile devices assigned to CI [Criminal Investigation unit] employees continue to have the functionality to access TikTok and other related websites. For example, TIGTA identified more than 2,800 mobile devices used by CI that could access TikTok’s website and approximately 900 CI employees that had the ability to get access to TikTok’s website via computers assigned to CI. As of August 2023, CI [had] yet to request the required exception from the Department of Treasury nor [had] it taken steps to block access to TikTok on computers and mobile devices assigned to its personnel."

TIGTA recommended that "CI should ensure that access to TikTok is blocked on mobile devices and work with the OMB to determine whether an exception process is needed for the approximately 900 CI employees who can access TikTok on their computers."

In response, TIGTA reported, the Chief of CI "issued a memorandum to all CI personnel requiring staff to identify and remove TikTok from CI devices. The memorandum reiterated that the social networking application TikTok, and any subsequent application or service developed, provided, or owned by its parent company that has the same functionality and purpose of TikTok, is prohibited on IRS devices and systems. As of May 2023, CI [was] working to revise the current policy, Surveillance of Internet and Social Media Sites (dated June 21, 2019). CI management explained that they were also evaluating whether a law enforcement exception would be requested to continue to permit access to TikTok."

Werfel said they that the IRS has had “very productive discussions” with TIGTA regarding the conflict, Bloomberg Law reported.