Elon Musk's DOGE plans to develop a 'mega API' to make it easier to access taxpayer information, but the IRS is concerned that it will be 'technically impossible and will cause problems.'

By Gage Skidmore

It has been reported that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is planning to hold a hackathon to develop a 'Mega API' to access data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Mega API aims to make it easier to access IRS data, but concerns have been raised within the IRS.

DOGE plans now reportedly include an IRS 'hackathon' | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/644327/musk-doge-irs-hackathon-taxpayer-data-transfer-cloud

DOGE reportedly planning a hackathon to build 'mega API' for IRS data | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/05/doge-reportedly-planning-a-hackathon-to-build-mega-api-for-irs-data/

On March 21, 2025, DOGE said, 'IRS system modernization began in 1990. The work was scheduled to be completed in 1996, but the work is still not completed and the system modernization contractor claims that it will take another five years. The modernization work is 29 years late and the budget has reached $15 billion (about 2.2 trillion yen). Everyone except the contractor is losing out. 'In the IT industry, 'modernization' contracts are paid for work hours, not results or performance. This gives contractors an incentive to 'never finish the work,' which creates tremendous waste,' and revealed that it had frozen existing IRS system modernization contracts.

There is a pattern across all agencies where IT “modernization” contracts do not pay for outcomes/performance; instead, they pay for time. Therefore, the incentive is for contractors to “never finish,” resulting in incredible waste.

As an example, IRS modernization started in… pic.twitter.com/1OZn8DDTrL

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) March 21, 2025

According to a report on April 5, 2025, DOGE plans to develop a 'Mega API' that will enable the IRS to centrally manage data held by the IRS from a cloud platform. Information that can be managed by the Mega API includes taxpayer names, addresses, social security numbers, and other data. At present, the IRS manages taxpayer information in multiple systems that combine on-premise data centers and the cloud, and special permissions are required to access the systems. However, the Mega API is intended to centrally manage taxpayer information, and there are concerns that anyone with access to the Mega API may be able to access all data.

DOGE will host a hackathon in Washington DC to develop a mega API. The hackathon will be led by DOGE employee Gavin Krieger and Sam Kokos , founder and CEO of healthcare company Levels Health .

Mega API was originally scheduled to be developed over a year, but at the time of writing, the development period was shortened to a few weeks. An IRS official said of the plan to develop Mega API, 'This is technically impossible. It's not a rational idea and it would cripple the IRS.' Another official said, 'Mega API is an Elon Musk-controlled door to the most sensitive information of all Americans.'

It has been reported that DOGE is planning to port the US Social Security Administration (SSA) system from COBOL to another language within a few months, but many have pointed out that this plan is also impossible to port in such a short time.

DOGE, led by Elon Musk, is trying to migrate the Social Security Administration's system, which contains 60 million lines of COBOL code, to code generation AI in just a few months, and the risks are being pointed out - GIGAZINE

By Gage Skidmore