The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552, provides any person the right to request access of federal agency records or information. The FOIA applies to records either created or obtained by an agency and under agency control at the time of the FOIA request. Agencies within the executive branch of the federal government, including the Executive Office of the President and independent regulatory agencies are subject to the FOIA. State governments, municipal corporations, the courts, Congress and private citizens are not subject to the FOIA.All IRS records are subject to FOIA requests. However, FOIA does not require the IRS to release all documents that are subject to FOIA requests. The IRS may withhold information pursuant to nine exemptions and three exclusions contained in the FOIA statute.While the Freedom of Information Act is an option in some cases, records that can be processed routinely in accordance with procedures identified in 26 CFR 601.702(d) are specifically excluded from the processing requirements of the FOIA. Many FOIA requests for IRS information can be obtained more efficiently using routine established agency procedures.The FOIA established an effective statutory right that records of the Executive Branch of the United States Government are accessible to the people. This was not always the policy regarding disclosure of Federal information. Before the FOIA was enacted in 1966, the Administrative Procedure Act governed the disclosure of agency records to the public and was viewed as a withholding statute rather than a disclosure statute.