Can you get someone’s tax information?

A U.S. District court denied an individual’s attempt to get information on his father, grandfather, and family-owned business because the IRS successfully demonstrated that it never received Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests (it followed proper intake procedures) and made efforts to locate alleged requests. But even FOIA requests will be denied if it would harm the privacy of individuals, the proprietary interest of businesses, and in other situations. Learn more about FOIA requests from the IRS here.