Part 3 – Unintended Consequences of FATCA: Will Taxpayer (Individual’s) Personal Financial Data at IRS get “Snowdened”?
Prior posts discussed unintended consequences of FATCA, including devaluing the U.S. citizenship to some with a resulting surge in U.S. citizenship renunciations. See, Part 2 – Unintended Consequences of FATCA – for USCs and LPRs Living Outside the U.S.
Under FATCA, countries will be collecting and then delivering massive amounts of taxpayer data to and from government agencies. Will governments use private contractors to manage and move this information (as did the NSA with Mr. Snowden)? The type of information that will be provided under FATCA is extensive, including names, financial account numbers, bank account names, taxpayer identification numbers (e.g., social security numbers, etc.), income earned from account assets, etc.
The Washington Post, 14 August 2014, in an article titled IRS handed taxpayer information to contractors without background checks focused on the recently released report of the Treasury Department oversight agency (The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration). In that news account, the article stated that the ” . . . that the IRS handed over a disc containing sensitive data on about 1.4 million taxpayers to a printing firm without any of the company’s employees being subjected to screenings. . . ”
The full TIGTA report from 7 July 2014 can be reviewed here and is titled, Some Contractor Personnel Without Background Investigations Had Access to Taxpayer Data and Other Sensitive Information
As more and more information is made available, and as it goes through more and more hands via FATCA channels, there is bound to be significant leaks and stolen personal financial information of individuals around the world.