§7701 Taxpayer Identifying Number

Summary

Federal agencies must collect taxpayer identifying numbers from people in many government dealings. included Federal loan program — means what section 6103(l)(3)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code says. taxpayer identifying number — means the ID required under section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code. Heads of agencies that run included Federal loan programs must get a person’s taxpayer ID when that person applies for a loan. Heads of all federal agencies must get taxpayer IDs from people who do business with the agency, such as lenders or servicers, applicants or recipients of licenses, permits, grants, benefits, or insurance, contractors, people fined or charged fees, and others in relationships that could create a debt like partners or guarantors. Agencies must tell those people they will use the ID to collect and report any unpaid debts. A person is not treated as doing business with an agency just because they are a debtor under third‑party claims, except for claims from petroleum pricing violations or from federal loan or loan guarantee/insurance programs. Even though another privacy law exists (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)), creditor agencies and their agents may match their debtor records with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor to get names, name controls, employer names, taxpayer IDs, addresses, and birth dates. Agencies may share taxpayer IDs only if section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code does not prohibit it. HHS and Labor must release the information and may charge reasonable fees to cover the cost of doing so.