DOGE hasn’t accessed legally protected tax data, administration says in privacy suit response

The six Department of Government Efficiency workers at the Department of Education have not accessed legally protected federal tax information during their purported audit of student loan programs, the Trump administration said Thursday in response to a lawsuit claiming the DOGE team’s activity was violating federal law.

Two of the DOGE staffers involved in the probe are now formal employees of the agency and four others are detailed there, acting Education Secretary Denise Carter said in her Thursday court filing. 

Their status as federal employees should allow DOGE workers to access Internal Revenue Code-protected data under certain conditions, though they have not yet done so, the administration said.

In the suit filed last week, the University of California Student Association claimed that the granting of access to DOGE of student financial aid databases violates the federal Privacy Act and the Internal Revenue Code.

The Department of Education agreed Tuesday to temporarily bar the DOGE workers from accessing agency data, including tax information, until at least February 17 when a judge will rule on whether the efficiency team’s work there can continue.

The DOGE team needs access to large datasets — including sensitive personal data that may be covered by the federal Privacy Act — to do its job, Carter argued in her filing.

Carter also said the Internal Revenue Code makes exceptions for federal employees disclosing tax return information belonging to private citizens, including to allow data sharing between the Treasury Department and the Department of Education.

The release of tax return information used to determine the eligibility and amount of federal student financial aid, including for reducing “improper payments,” is one such exception, the filing claimed.

Several lawsuits have been filed against DOGE and the agencies where it is operating on the grounds that the group’s work violates federal privacy laws. In addition to the California students’ suit against the Department of Education, several federal employees, state attorneys general and advocacy groups have filed suit against the Treasury Department for allowing DOGE access to federal payment systems housing millions of Americans’ sensitive personal data. 

On Friday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) alleged that DOGE is now working at the Internal Revenue Service, saying it is “in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America.” 

“And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason,” he said.