The Internal Revenue Service revealed that it accidentally posted roughly 120,000 individuals' sensitive information online before quickly removing it.
The mistake was initially announced through a letter sent to top congressional leaders on Friday before a public statement on its website, The Wall Street Journal reported.
It came only one month after Congress approved an additional $80 billion in funding for the IRS and close to 87,000 new agents. More than $45 billion of that is directed toward closing billions of dollars in a tax gap between what Americans owe and what they actually pay.
“'The files have been removed from IRS.gov and will be replaced with updated files in the near future. In addition, the IRS also will be working with groups that routinely use the files to remove the erroneous files and replace them with the correct versions as they become available. The IRS will contact all impacted filers in the coming weeks,'” the agency stated.
The IRS said the data temporarily made available were from the Form 990-T, a document often required for those with individual retirement accounts invested in master limited partnerships, real estate or other assets that generate income.
According to the agency, it exposed the names, contact information and IRA income disclosures. A Treasury Department audit later confirmed that the information did not include Social Security numbers or full individual income information.
"The IRS is continuing to review this situation," stated Anna Canfield Roth, the Treasury Department's acting assistant secretary for management.
"The Treasury Department has instructed the IRS to conduct a prompt review of its practices to ensure necessary protections are in place to prevent unauthorized data disclosures," she added.
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