31 U.S.C. § 7701 — Taxpayer identifying number

(a) This section defines two terms. (1) "Included Federal loan program" means the same thing it means in section 6103(l)(3)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (2) "Taxpayer identifying number" means the identifying number required under section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

(b) The head of any agency that administers an included Federal loan program must require a person applying for a loan under that program to provide that person's taxpayer identifying number.

(c) (1) The head of each federal agency must require each person doing business with that agency to give the agency that person's taxpayer identifying number.
(2) For this purpose, a person counts as doing business with a federal agency if the person is: (A) a lender or servicer in a federally guaranteed or insured loan program the agency administers; (B) an applicant for, or recipient of, a federal license, permit, right-of-way, grant, or benefit payment the agency administers, or insurance the agency administers; (C) a contractor of the agency; (D) assessed a fine, fee, royalty, or penalty by the agency; or (E) in a relationship with the agency that may create a debt (a "receivable") owed to the agency — for example, a partner of a borrower in, or a guarantor of, a federal direct or insured loan the agency administers.
(3) Each agency must disclose to a person required to give a taxpayer identifying number under this subsection that the agency intends to use that number to collect and report on any overdue amounts arising from that person's relationship with the government.
(4) A person is not treated as doing business with a federal agency solely because they are a debtor under a third-party claim of the United States. But this exception does not apply to a debtor who owes money from petroleum pricing violations, or from a federal loan or loan guarantee or insurance program — those debtors are still treated as doing business with the agency.

(d) Even though section 552a(b) of title 5 normally limits this, creditor agencies that are owed a delinquent claim, and their agents, may match their debtor records against records held by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor. This can get them names (including employee names), name controls, employer names, taxpayer identifying numbers, addresses (including employer addresses), and dates of birth. Sharing taxpayer identifying numbers this way is allowed only if section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 does not otherwise prohibit it. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor must release this information to creditor agencies, and may charge fees reasonable enough to cover the cost of doing so.