Judge Rejects IRS Effort to Dismiss Open-Records Case

A federal judge today denied a motion by the Internal Revenue Service to dismiss a lawsuit that aims to get the tax agency to change the way it releases nonprofit tax forms.

The case was brought by Public.Resource.Org, an advocacy group that wants the IRS to make Form 990 returns available in a format that can be read by computers so the public can more easily search them for critical information about nonprofit finances, governance, and programs.

William Orrick, a judge for the U.S. District Court in California’s Northern District, rejected the IRS argument that Internal Revenue Code provisions governing the release of Forms 990, which are designed to protect confidentiality, supersede the Freedom of Information Act, which says federal agencies must provide records “in any form or format requested” if it is “readily reproducible” in that format.

Public.Resource.Org requested specific nonprofit tax forms that had been filed electronically, contesting the IRS practice of converting such documents into image files that are hard to search. The IRS argued it would be technically difficult to change its process for removing confidential information from the forms, such as lists of donors.

Judge Orrick’s ruling follows a hearing on Wednesday, when he said he was likely to reject the IRS’s bid to dismiss the case.