Jane Edwards
The Internal Revenue Service has decided to temporarily postpone a $7.2 million contract awarded to consumer credit reporting firm Equifax for taxpayer identity verification support services as the agency continues to review the company’s systems, Politico reported Thursday.
The decision came weeks after the agency awarded the sole-source contract to Equifax and amid reports that the company may have been hacked again following a breach earlier this year that had compromised the data of approximately 145.5 million U.S. citizens.
Matthew Leas, a spokesman for IRS, said in a statement there is no sign of any breach of IRS data and that the contract’s temporary suspension is a “precautionary step†as the agency conducts its assessment of Equifax systems.
Taxpayers seeking to view their tax records online will not be able to create new accounts through the Secure Access system under the short-term suspension, the report added.
