IEVS Confidentiality

Federal and state laws and regulations require those agencies receiving income and eligibility verification information, or information provided by other agencies through the Income and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS), must protect the confidentiality of the information.

Any unauthorized disclosure may subject the county to sanctions by the state.

IEVS Confidentiality Regulations

All information pertinent to IEVS MUST be handled in a confidential manner as follows:

The information must only be used to administer aid programs.
The EW assigned to the task must not use the information for any purpose other than to determine eligibility and benefit level.
IEVS information must be stored in a place physically secure from access by unauthorized persons.
Precautions must be taken to ensure only authorized personnel are given access to online files.
The county must instruct all personnel with access to IEVS information regarding the confidential nature of the data and the sanctions against unauthorized disclosure specified in State statutes.
All IEVS forms are confidential. Hard copies of IEVS reports received or printed from the CalSAWS system cannot be discarded in the trash. They must be scanned into Imaging and/or deposited in a secure shredding container as appropriate.
Other information received NOT applicable to our client on hard copies of IEVS abstracts must be blacked out. After the IEVS abstract is redacted, it must be imaged and/or deposited in a secure shredding container as appropriate.
Hard copies of the BEER and IRS Asset Match abstracts must be kept in a locked file in the IEVS Unit. These abstracts are not available to the EW. However, this information may be shared with EWs by the IEVS Units when deemed necessary.

Federal Tax Information (FTI)

Per IRS standards, the handling of all FTI must follow specific protocol in order to ensure adherence to all laws governing FTI.

Email

FTI should not be transmitted outside the agency in either the body of an unencrypted email or as an attachment.
The file containing FTI must be attached and encrypted.
Ensure all messages are sent to the proper address.

Fax

When sending FTI documents via fax, the fax machine must be in a secure area.
A separate notification must be sent to the recipient to notify him/her of the FTI document faxed.
A cover sheet must be included on all fax transmissions that provides notification of the sensitivity and need for protection of the data.

Identification

All documents containing FTI must be clearly labeled with “Federal Tax Information” on the document.

IEVS Confidentiality