This week, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said that it found $4.7 trillion in untraceable payments at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The advisory agency found that these transactions were missing the Treasury Account Symbol (TAS), which is an identification code used to classify all the transactions of the federal government.
DOGE shared this update on X.
“In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible,” the post said.
“As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going,” the agency added.
The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process).
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 17, 2025
In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost…
Major improvement in Treasury payment integrity going live!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025
This was a combined effort of @DOGE, @USTreasury and @FederalReserve. Nice work by all. https://t.co/dpLmXRpufT
According to The Independent, the figure provided by DOGE would represent nearly 70 percent of total federal spending last year.
The Treasury was one of the first departments DOGE targeted once President Donald Trump took office. Since then, the agency has embedded with a slew of other agencies. This includes the US Agency for International Development, (USAID), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
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