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The IRS’s new, Palantir-powered API will make IRS data available to any app it wishes, and Palantir is working for the Criminal Investigation (CI) part of the IRS on a new system to bring together traditionally disparate systems into a single overarching one to investigate all sorts of financial crime, according to a cache of documents obtained by 404 Media.
The existence and development of the API have been previously reported and announced by the Department of the Treasury. But the documents provide much more specific insight into what the IRS is hoping to achieve with it, and what the agency wants Palantir to build.
“As the IRS’ mission expands as a result of legislative mandates, taxpayer expectations, and oversight requirements, IRS data systems have become increasingly complex and siloed; this creates an opportunity to modernize data access, enhance secure information sharing across business operations, and accelerate compliance capabilities,” one of the documents reads.
404 Media obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the IRS.
The idea of the new API—an Application Programming Interface that lets different pieces of software communicate with one another—is to make “IRS data easily accessible to any app,” according to one of the documents. Specifically, the API will use Palantir’s Foundry software, the documents say.
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In September, the Department of the Treasury announced: “To continue improving data integrity and technical infrastructure, Treasury has awarded a contract to Palantir. This partnership will enable a common API layer that supports developer platforms, workflow automation, and data analytics. This work supports federal employees, increasing efficiency for their professional duties.”
Last month The Intercept reported Palantir is helping the IRS analyze dozens of different datasets to investigate financial crimes. One of the documents obtained by 404 Media discussing CI’s modernization says one objective is to provide modern tools to support investigations into “complex criminal financial crimes, organized crime, tax crimes, protecting the US financial system and other US Treasury Department missions.”
One section lays out how CI currently handles data:
“CI does not have a centralized law enforcement case management system that allows for deconfliction (increased intelligence and officer safety), lead tracking, centralized evidence/case file management, chain of custody tracking, or investigative file sharing/comprehensive case file access (across CI, Chief Counsel, Department of Justice, and civil counterparts). Nor does CI have a centralized repository for all CI case data (intelligence and data analytics). CI’s current solution for managing case data is having case related evidence, memorandums, and investigative approval requests housed in Windows folders maintained on individual agent’s computers, shared Windows folders within field offices that periodically backup to regional servers and locking filing cabinets and grand jury storage rooms that house physical evidence.”
In February a second federal judge ordered the IRS to stop sharing residential addresses with ICE, Politico reported.
Neither Palantir nor the Department of Treasury responded to a request for comment.
You can read the documents here:
