Freedom of Information Act Request

After the IRS receives the Freedom of information act request letter from a tax payer (FOIA request for short), the IRS will decide the following within 10 days of receipt of the Freedom of information act request:

• What documents the IRS will and won't release to the tax payer.

   

• If any documents will not be released, the reason why the IRS will not release them.

   

• The amount of the Freedom of information act request fee, if any, to copy the documents requested under Freedom of information act.

If the tax payer disagrees with the IRS decision about which documents will not be released, the tax payer may appeal that decision. The IRS must explain the tax payer 's appeal rights in the letter denying the tax payer the documents. The tax payer will need to write another letter to the IRS, the appeal letter. 

If the tax payer is still not satisfied after the initial appeal is filed with the IRS, the tax payer may file a lawsuit in the district court within six years from the date when the IRS 's 20 day response period expires. Since the IRS tends to be very conservative in the release of documents under the Freedom of information act request, a lawsuit is common.