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COMBINED MANUAL

ISSUE DATE 12/2014

IEVS SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES

0010.24.21

MFIP, DWP, SNAP: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has special requirements for safeguarding tax data (for example, the Unverified Unearned Income (UNVI) and Beneficiary Earnings and Exchange Record (BEER) matches). IRS restrictions are much tighter than the Minnesota Data Practices Act.

There are federal criminal and civil penalties for the unauthorized inspection and/or disclosure of federal tax data. These penalties are in addition to state law governing private and confidential data. See 0003.09.09 (Client Rights, Private and Confidential Data).

Review the Tax Information Security Guidelines for Federal, State, and Local Agencies (Publication 1075) which has been provided to your agency. The Internal Revenue Service is acutely aware that in fostering our system of taxation the public must have and maintain a high degree of confidence that the personal and financial information furnished to us is protected against unauthorized use, inspection or disclosure.

Protected data includes the following MAXIS panels:

● UNVI and UNID panels.

● BEER and BEED panels.

● IULA and IULB panels if for UNVI or BEER match.

● IDLA and IDLB panels if for UNVI or BEER match.

It also includes:

● CASE NOTEs if UNVI, tax record, etc., information is mentioned.

● Any paper copy of the above.

● Forms and/or documents referencing the tax record (for example, the Difference Notice).

Data may only be used to determine eligibility or the amount of benefits for MFIP, SNAP, and MA.

The IRS has instructed DHS that this information, such as a copy of the UNVI panel, cannot be provided to county prosecutors or the court system. Once the data is verified by a 3rd party, the verified information may be used, but not the original IRS tax record itself. Do NOT indicate in discussion of the information that the IRS was the source of the match.

Access only the data for the IEVS matches that you are responsible for. Do NOT inspect IRS data for any other cases. Not only is it illegal to disclose IRS data, it is also illegal to inspect data you do not need to know to resolve your IEVS matches.

Do not copy safeguarded information unless it is absolutely necessary. There are rarely situations in which copies are needed. If protected data is copied:

● The files containing the data MUST be locked up at night.

● Do not leave protected data lying around on your desk.

● Mark files, indicating that they contain protected data.

● Separate protected data before disposal of files.

● Maintain a 5-year record of destruction of federal tax data. The log must include: