Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025

This bill, the Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025, aims to keep the U.S. Treasury’s central payment systems—where federal money is received and paid out—secure and your tax information private. It makes it illegal for certain people to log in to or control these systems, or to help others do so, and it blocks sharing tax return information through these systems with those people . If you’re harmed by a violation, you can sue in court for at least $250,000 for each unauthorized access, and you may also get punitive damages and attorney fees. People who help enable the access can be held responsible too .

Key points

• Who is affected: People who are not federal employees, or contractors with less than one year of continuous service; federal employees who are top officers or on the board of a business or who control a business; federal employees with less than one year of service; and certain employees with a conflict of interest or without a signed ethics agreement .
• What changes: Access to the Treasury’s central payment systems is tightly limited; helping someone break these rules is also illegal; and tax return information cannot be disclosed through these systems to the restricted individuals .
• What you can do if harmed: Sue in federal or state court for the greater of actual damages or $250,000 per unauthorized access, and seek punitive damages and attorney fees .