By Brian Schwartz

An aide to Elon Musk's efforts to shrink the federal government will have access to the Internal Revenue Service's computer systems but not the personal information of taxpayers, a federal memo showed.

Gavin Kliger has been helping the new Department of Government Efficiency cut spending as an employee of the Office of Personnel Management and was recently granted access to IRS payment systems. The agreement between OPM and the IRS says Kliger will help improve the tax agency's technology infrastructure within strict boundaries protecting personal information from tax returns, according to a copy of the agreement seen by The Wall Street Journal.

"Should access to IRS systems that contain returns or return information become necessary as part of the detailed's duties under this agreement, that access shall only be provided if it is anonymized and in a manner that cannot be associated with, directly or indirectly, any taxpayer," the agreement reads.

The agreement was earlier reported by the New York Times.

Lawmakers including Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) had raised concerns about people affiliated with DOGE accessing taxpayer information. DOGE affiliates have been working to fire thousands of employees at the IRS, part of broader work to cut the federal workforce.

Kliger will have access to the IRS computer systems that the Government Accountability Office has said needs to be improved.

The memorandum says Kliger's responsibilities will include "surveying IRS software, network infrastructure and information technology...systems" and "assess the state of current IRS projects and support interventions where major corrections are required."

Write to Brian Schwartz at brian.schwartz@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2025 16:50 ET (21:50 GMT)

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