The IRS inadvertently published information of about 120,000 people

About 120,000 people's confidential information was accidentally published by the IRS.

The IRS said that it should not have been made public.

Similar information was accidentally published for a subset of non-501(c)(3)s, which are not subject to public disclosure, according to the agency.

According to a letter published by The Wall Street Journal, the issue is considered a major incident due to the number of people involved.

An employee of the IRS discovered the issue after the unintentionally published data was reported by The Wall Street Journal. The IRS will be updating the files on the government site in the coming weeks, according to the letter.

The issue was caused by a human coding error. The Form 990-T tax return could be filed electronically at that time.

Social Security numbers were not included in the data that was published according to a letter from the Journal. Individual income information, detailed financial account data, or other sensitive information that could impact a taxpayer's credit were not included.

According to the statement from the IRS site and the letter, some people's names and contact information were included.

In the coming weeks, the IRS will contact those impacted.