US IRS and Spain's Tax Agency adopt AI‑driven data platforms for fraud investigations

The Internal Revenue Service in the United States signed a contract with Palantir Technologies to build a "Super API" that will unify the agency’s massive taxpayer databases and give authorized applications real‑time access to the data. The deal, disclosed on 2 June 2026, also calls for modernising the IRS Criminal Investigation division’s legacy systems, which handle cases of tax evasion, money‑laundering and other financial crimes. Civil‑rights groups have voiced concern that the capability to cross‑reference tax information with criminal‑investigation data could expand federal surveillance without usual procedural safeguards.

Spain’s Agencia Tributaria has purchased licences for Pathfinder, a forensic‑analysis suite created by Israeli firm Cellebrite. Pathfinder combines massive data‑processing, AI‑based link analysis and media‑classification tools to uncover hidden connections in financial‑fraud investigations, including those hidden in social‑media content. The software, originally built for Israeli security and police units, is now being deployed to help Spanish tax auditors trace relationships between people, companies and transactions.

Both moves illustrate a growing trend of national tax authorities turning to sophisticated private‑sector analytics and surveillance technologies to strengthen fraud detection, while sparking debate over privacy and the scope of governmental data‑access powers.