Privacy Impact Assessment – Collection Information System (COINS)
COINS System Overview
The Collection Information System (COINS) is a management reporting system that produces reports containing information about compliance statistics, seizures, liens, levies, and collections made. This information is used by IRS management to determine what collections have been made and to establish any possible patterns in collection. The application consists of a number of small programs that generate reports for the National Office Headquarters Small Business/Compliance Program. It also serves as a central repository for widely used collection report information.
System of Records Number(s)
Treasury/IRS 34.037 IRS Audit Trail and Security Records System
Data in the System
1. Describe the information (data elements and fields) available in the system in the following categories:
A. Taxpayer
B. Employee
C. Audit Trail Information (including employee log-in info)
D. Other (Describe)
A. Taxpayer – COINS does not collect taxpayer information. COINS compiles information about compliance statistics, seizures, liens, levies and collections.
B. Employee – Unique COINS User-IDs and passwords are required for system authentication.
C. Audit Trail Information – The COINS system keeps audit trails of all user queries performed on the system. Information including the User-ID, and a date and timestamp are also tracked in these logs.
D. Other – None.
2. Describe/identify which data elements are obtained from files, databases, individuals, or any other sources.
A. IRS
B. Taxpayer
C. Employee
D. Other Federal Agencies (List agency)
E. State and Local Agencies (List agency)
F. Other third party sources (Describe)
A. IRS – COINS has a direct connection with the Collection Analysis Report (CAR) database. CAR extracts data from the Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS) and produces management information reports reflecting activity associated with Taxpayer Delinquent Account (TDA) and Taxpayer Delinquency Investigation (TDI) issues and installment agreements. Data is extracted from CAR via the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and imported into COINS. Once the data has been uploaded into COINS, it is made publicly available to the IRS user community.
B. Taxpayer – The COINS system does not collect taxpayer information.
C. Employee – The COINS system does not collect data from the employee, but it does contain User-IDs and passwords of employees.
D. Other Federal Agencies – The COINS system does not obtain data from other federal agencies.
E. State and Local Agencies – The COINS system does not obtain data from state and local agencies.
F. Other Third Party Sources – The COINS system does not obtain data from other third party sources.
3. Is each data item required for the business purpose of the system? Explain.
Yes. The data are used to produce reports about compliance statistics, seizures, liens, and levies. This information is used by IRS management to determine what collections have been made and to establish any possible patterns in collection.
4. How will each data item be verified for accuracy, timeliness, and completeness?
COINS users manually compare the reports to ensure accuracy, timeliness and completeness of each data item.
5. Is there another source for the data? Explain how that source is or is not used.
No. There is no other source for the data.
6. Generally, how will data be retrieved by the user?
Data is retrieved through a web-based database extract. Privileged users will gain access to the COINS application via IDRS.
7. Is the data retrievable by a personal identifier such as name, SSN, or other unique identifier?
Data is retrievable by the cycle date. The system contains no personal or unique identifiers. The only data that is accessible are preformatted reports of collection statistics.
Access to the Data
8. Who will have access to the data in the system (Users, Managers, System Administrators, Developers, Others)?
There are four privileged accounts: three programmers and one System Administrator.
Users will have access to Collection Research data. The COINS system does not allow temporary or emergency accounts.
9. How is access to the data by a user determined and by whom?
Only designated IRS employees with COINS accounts will have access to the COINS system. Approval for COINS access is processed via the following OL5081 approval layers:
-- Employee’s manager
-- Security coordinator
-- IRS headquarters approval to use COINS
-- MITS approval
10. Do other IRS systems provide, receive, or share data in the system? If YES, list the system(s) and describe which data is shared. If NO, continue to Question 12. No.
11. Have the IRS systems described in Item 10 received an approved Security Certification and Privacy Impact Assessment? n/a
12. Will other agencies provide, receive, or share data in any form with this system? No.
Administrative Controls of Data
13. What are the procedures for eliminating the data at the end of the retention period?
Local procedures are in place for having outdated data diskettes and CDs sent to the Annex for proper destruction through the shredder.
14. Will this system use technology in a new way? If "YES" describe. If "NO" go to Question 15.
No. The COINS system is not using technology in a new way.
15. Will this system be used to identify or locate individuals or groups? If so, describe the business purpose for this capability.
No. There is no capability for users to query the database for historical information on individual taxpayers or groups.
16. Will this system provide the capability to monitor individuals or groups? If yes, describe the business purpose for this capability and the controls established to prevent unauthorized monitoring.
No. The COINS system is not a real-time online system and, therefore, incorporates no real-time monitoring capabilities.
17. Can use of the system allow IRS to treat taxpayers, employees, or others, differently? Explain.
No. The COINS system contains no taxpayer entity information. Information is only contained on internal IRS Collection statistics.
18. Does the system ensure "due process" by allowing affected parties to respond to any negative determination, prior to final action?
Not applicable. The COINS system contains no taxpayer entity information as it is an internal repository for IRS Collection statistics.
19. If the system is web-based, does it use persistent cookies or other tracking devices to identify web visitors?
No persistent cookies or tracking devices are used in COINS.
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