
Ask HN: Does it matter to give IRS your bank routing info? - pointillistic
When you get the Covid checks, you have an option to give IRS your routing numbers. Is there any concern with this?
======
LinuxBender
If the IRS were to garnish your accounts, they can get all the account numbers
without your assistance. Giving them the information might save them a day or
two in the processing.

I am not a fan of giving government agencies sensitive data that they do not
already have readily available for historical reasons. The federal government
historically have not done well in _technical_ security audits. This is not
specific to the IRS and I am not picking on them specifically. More generally
this is about technical security audits and not the checkbox governance
audits. They are getting better in governance and compliance audits.

All of that said, I am a firm believer in "People can't mismanage, lose or
otherwise _accidentally_ leak data they do not have in the first place." I
barely trust my bank to manage my bank accounts. Having worked for a bank, I
know how antiquated their back-end systems are.

~~~
pointillistic
your answer is very contradictory, can you please clarify your advice?

~~~
LinuxBender
My answer was intentionally contradictory. I am just providing the data points
I know of. If your concern is their ability to garnish money, then giving them
information isn't really an issue. If your concern is them getting hacked or
otherwise leaking your data, then you may wish to take a conservative
approach.

