FOIA Findings

Issue #3 • March 26, 2026

Hi friend,

Welcome to FOIA Findings, a newsletter focused on our efforts to use the Freedom of Information Act and open records laws to shed light on tax policy and administration. Subscribe on LinkedIn or on our website. 

Since March happens to include Sunshine Week — a nonpartisan project designed to raise awareness about the importance of open government, transparency, and the public’s right to access public records — we’ll take a look at how the IRS and Treasury are doing in meeting their obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.  

Treasury recently released its annual chief FOIA officer report to the attorney general, a report that is used to understand how well the agency is doing when it comes to transparency. The report is supposed to be posted online on March 16, but it was posted three days late on March 19. You can read the full story here.  

Some federal departments and agencies still hadn’t released their reports as of the time of publication.  

“It’s not abnormal to have some agencies miss the deadline for reporting,” said Margaret Kwoka of Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.  

But Michael Sarich, a former FOIA director for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said the missed deadline is “very concerning.” 

“This is the report card of FOIA performance,” Sarich said. “Even though I don’t believe agencies are hiding things . . . anytime there’s an unnatural delay in providing an answer, people tend to get suspicious.” 

Addressing the Backlog 

Treasury’s annual report says that it reduced its backlog by 10 requests in fiscal 2025, despite receiving a record high volume of 16,493 requests and having lost 39 percent of its staff and contractor resources compared with the previous year.  

Most of the 16,493 FOIA requests received by the department were made to the IRS, which received 9,340 requests and processed 9,811. That was an improvement over the previous year, when the IRS processed fewer requests than it received.  

The 2026 report notes that Treasury implemented a plan “focused on improving the timeliness and quality of FOIA processing while continuing to address the existing backlog.”  

The report says important parts of the plan included taking steps to reduce processing times, encouraging bureau offices to review and assess their FOIA processes and resource levels, and reinforcing FOIA training and awareness for employees. 

‘Fast and Sloppy’ 

Meanwhile, some tax attorneys who use FOIA are experiencing problems with how the IRS responds to their requests. 

Daniel Price of the Law Offices of Daniel N. Price PLLC said he’s recently seen an increase in certain requests being pushed to a “slow boat” queue with long delays and an “uptick in atrocious but speedy FOIA responses” that are causing him to request managerial conferences and file FOIA appeals. 

“My instinct is they’re working them fast and sloppy to reduce the backlog,” Price said. 

Allan Blutstein, a Republican opposition researcher and FOIA attorney, said that given the loss of FOIA staff in 2025, including reviewing attorneys, he wouldn’t be surprised if the quality of agency responses has declined.  

“From my time in the government, the prevailing view was that it was much better to be late than wrong,” said Blutstein, who previously worked as a FOIA attorney at Treasury and the Justice Department.  

“Given how few requesters file appeals — and even fewer litigate — along with the pressure to keep up with incoming requests, I can see how some offices might be tempted to shift toward speed despite the risks,” Blutstein said.  

That’s all for now! Stay tuned for next month’s edition.