PROCEDURALLY TAXING tax notes federal
by Jenni Black Jenni Black is a managing director in Citrin Cooperman’s national tax office and the practice leader of the tax procedure and controversy practice. Jenni is also a contributing author for Procedurally Taxing. In this post, Black considers whether the significant noncompliance by the IRS found by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration regarding joint return disclosures permitted under section 6103(e)(8) stems from the fact that the rules aren’t as clear cut as they seem. This post reflects the author’s personal views and not necessarily those of Citrin Cooperman. Before Procedurally Taxing joined Tax Analysts we had a robust comment section associated with our posts. It took a few years after we started the blog to get the right instructions out to individuals interested in commenting, but once we did, we received comments that occasionally exceeded the post in terms of quality and analysis of an issue. When we joined Tax Analysts, we lost our publicly available comment section; however, it is still possible to comment on a post and we do respond to comments. Underneath the author’s name at the top of each post there is a link titled “Message the Author.” If you click on that link, you can send a message about the article. All of the messages come to me, and I distribute them to the actual author of the post if I did not write the post. We try to respond to each comment; however, all of this happens generally behind the scenes of the blog.
In an October 14 post I discussed a recent Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report (No. 2025-300-046) regarding disclosure of information on a joint return to each spouse. That post resulted in a comment from Jenni Black, one of our contributors. Her comment was lengthy, insightful, and precisely the kind of comment that would enhance everyone’s understanding of the issues raised in the post. I encouraged her to turn that comment into a post and the result is below. Thanks, Jenni. If you have a comment, please send it in. Even if we don’t publicly acknowledge it, your comments help us, and you may be providing information we will find a way to share on the blog. — Keith 1
Under section 6103(e)(8), the IRS “shall” disclose: • whether the IRS has attempted to collect the joint debt from the other spouse; • the general nature of the collection activities; and • the amount collected. That’s it. Those categories are not as straightforward as they may seem and the people handling the calls at the IRS are not attorneys or disclosure specialists.2 Despite what it may look like, it’s very subjective. As with most legal things,
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This article is only discussing the TIGTA report and disclosures made under section 6103(e)(8). All of the information related to the joint debt is likely the return information of both spouses (as the information was gathered or created as part of the collection of their liability under the Internal Revenue Code) and could be disclosed, in full, to each spouse under section 6103(e)(7), provided the disclosure would not seriously impair federal tax administration. So, while section 6103(e)(8) addresses the disclosure of limited information, that’s not to say that more information than can be disclosed under section 6103(e)(8) couldn’t be disclosed in a request for the spouse’s own return information (which is generally done through the Freedom of Information Act). So I am not entirely sure why section 6103(e)(8) is necessary. 2
Although section 6103(e)(8) requires the request and response to be in writing, the TIGTA report notes that “after the passage of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2 [in 1996], the IRS Disclosure Office issued guidance permitting employees to provide both oral and written responses to taxpayers’ requests made orally or in writing.”
TAX NOTES FEDERAL, VOLUME 189, DECEMBER 15, 2025 For more Tax Notes® Federal content, please visit www.taxnotes.com.
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