WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service mistakenly published confidential data for 120,000 taxpayers on its website before realizing the error and taking down the data, the Treasury Department said.
The IRS accidentally posted data from a tax form used by both individuals and tax-exempt organizations, the Treasury said in a letter to lawmakers on Friday. While information about nonprofit groups is routinely made public, that for individuals is supposed to be kept private. The Treasury said the IRS would contact all individuals affected in the coming weeks.
The disclosure didn’t include Social Security numbers, income figures or information that could harm an individual’s credit, the department said. Some published information included names and contact information.
