Safeguarding Federal Tax Information Policy

DCSS-POL-08-17 v.2

 

  1. OVERVIEW
  1. The purpose of this policy is to provide staff and members of the public a working knowledge of what Federal Tax Information (FTI) is and how to protect and properly dispose of it.
  1. APPLICABILITY
  1. This policy applies to all Arizona IV-D program staff performing Title IV-D services.
  1. POLICY
  1. All FTI is confidential and must be protected at all times. No Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) staff shall disclose any return or return information in connection with his/her role in the division. All FTI must be disposed of properly, whether on paper or digital media.
  2. FTI consists of federal tax returns or return information in DCSS possession or control and may contain personally identifiable information (PII). FTI is protected under strict confidentiality requirements and includes return or information about the return received directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). FTI may also be obtained from an authorized secondary source such as:
  1. IRS Income Tax Intercept mail returned to the DCSS.
  2. Pay history or any document from another jurisdiction providing the source of a payment as IRS.
  1. The following is not FTI:
  1. Support Recipient (SR) or Caretaker tax returns or portions of their personal tax returns provided to the DCSS by the customer or other party to the case.
  2. Support Payor (SP) tax returns or portions of their personal tax return provided to the DCSS by the customer or other party to the case.
  3. Financial Summary and Payment History (FCSE0001F0780001) generated from AZCARES.
  1. CRITERIA
  1. Handling FTI:
  1. FTI should never be left on computer screens and computer workstations should be locked when left unattended.
  2. Hard copy FTI should not be left on a workstation unattended at any time.
  3. FTI should never be emailed or saved on a computer hard drive, network drives or cloud drives.
  4. FTI should NOT be printed if possible.
  5. FTI MUST be logged and shredded immediately after use.  DO NOT put FTI in shred bins.
  • Accessing FTI:
  • Access to FTI is limited to those individuals who require the FTI to perform their official duties.
  • The need for FTI is evaluated before the data is requested or disseminated.

If all criteria are not met, all unintentional/inadvertent disclosure of FTI should be reported immediately as instructed by current procedures.

  1. PROCEDURE
  1. This policy is supported by staff procedures, which identify how action related to this policy will be conducted, including responsibilities, time frames, and required actions.
  2. Staff may access the procedures here.
  1. AUTHORITY
Federal Authority

26 U.S.C. § 6103 (a)(2), (b), (l)(6&8)

Confidentiality and disclosure of returns and return information

CFR 301.6103 (p)(7)-1

Procedures for administrative review of a determination that an authorized recipient has failed to safeguard returns or return information.
IRS Pub 1075 Safeguards for Protecting Federal Tax Returns and Return Information
State Authority

A.R.S. § 41-1959

Confidential information; permissible disclosure; rules; violation; classification

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Policy Review Date: 4/14/2026
Next Revision Date: 4/14/2027

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