Officials in Kansas City, Mo., told a local paper that more than two dozen computer tapes containing confidential taxpayer information are missing.
According to the Southeast Missourian, the 26 tapes contain information the Internal Revenue Service and Kansas City share -- such as taxpayer names and addresses, Social Security and bank account numbers and employer information.
The tapes were delivered to City Hall in August, but it was only when the tapes were not returned to the Treasury Department in a timely manner that assistant city manager Rich Noll said he learned the tapes were missing in late December.
City officials use the information to assist with collection of a 1 percent city earnings tax, which people living or working in Kansas City must pay. Noll told the newspaper that special equipment and software are needed to read the tapes, and that local officials did not know what exactly was on the tapes, including how many taxpayers might be affected. There have not been any reports of the information being misused.
Local officials and special agents with the Inspector General's office of the Treasury Department are investigating.
