IRS Inspector General Report Finds Employees Unauthorized Access to Celebrities’ Tax Records, Criminal Charges Possible

An IRS inspector general report says employees improperly accessed the tax records of celebrities, government officials and business executives between 2022 and 2025. The findings describe unauthorized employee access to highly sensitive records inside the agency.

The report was published on October 3, 2026. It says the incidents were referred for further investigation.

The conduct involved numerous employees, according to the findings. The report does not describe the access as limited to one type of prominent person.

The report identifies gaps in stopping and spotting improper access

The report says the IRS lacks adequate safeguards to prevent employees from looking at tax records without authorization. It also says the agency has insufficient protections to detect that conduct afterward.

Both weaknesses appear in the findings. One concerns preventing an employee from accessing a record improperly; the other concerns identifying access that has already occurred. The report characterizes the agency’s controls as inadequate in both respects.

Access itself can be improper, even when information does not leave the government. The findings describe the conduct as unauthorized regardless of whether records were shared outside government.

The report centers on employees’ access to taxpayer information. It does not frame the issue as a dispute over the tax bills or liabilities of the people whose records were viewed.

The inspector general sent the incidents for further investigation

The inspector general referred the incidents to its investigative division for review. That referral places the matter under further examination; it is not itself a report that charges have been filed.

Employees involved could face criminal charges or discipline, the report says. Those are possible consequences, not outcomes established in the findings described here.

The distinction is important to the status of the matter. The report identifies alleged improper access and a referral, while any criminal or disciplinary result would follow separately.

The findings concern access controls, not the subjects’ tax liabilities

The people whose records were accessed included celebrities, government officials and business executives. The report describes the concern as internal handling of confidential tax information, rather than the individuals’ tax positions.

The activity spanned four calendar years, from 2022 through 2025. The report’s findings therefore cover a period of employee access, followed by a referral for investigative review.

The report presents the incidents alongside a broader weakness in the IRS’s ability to block improper access and identify it after the fact. Its investigative division has the incidents for further review.