The IRS’s Ability to Access Electronic Communications Under the Stored Communication Act
By Anthony Diosdi There are more ways for people to connect with other people now than ever. The widespread use of social media organizations such as Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter means there is more evidence being created everyday. In some cases, this evidence can be used by the Internal Revenue Service (or “IRS”) to build a tax fraud case against an individual. For example, let’s assume Bob lives in San Francisco, California. Let’s also assume that Bob reports an annual income on his tax returns of $50,000. Bob’s posts on social media regarding expensive vacations or a luxurious lifestyle would be highly probative in an IRS criminal tax fraud investigation. Financial documents uploaded to cloud storage services (such as Google Cloud) may also be highly relevant in an IRS…