Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, has sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for violating his privacy rights after its agents disclosed private details about his taxes to the U.S. Congress and the public.

In the suit filed at the Federal District Court in Washington, Mr Biden’s legal team asserted that IRS investigators violated the agency’s rules by disclosing private information about its client to Congress, said The New York Times.

Mr Biden’s lawyers said he “has all the same responsibilities as any other American citizen, and the IRS can and should make certain that he abides by those responsibilities.” 

“Yet the IRS and its agents have conducted themselves under a presumption that the rights that apply to every other American citizen do not apply to Mr Biden,” the president’s son’s lawyers added.

The IRS was also accused of targeting and seeking to embarrass Mr Biden by revealing his tax information via public statements to the media in which they and their representatives disclosed confidential information about a private citizen’s tax matters.

The suit was filed days after the Department of Justice indicted Mr Biden in another separate case on charges relating to purchasing a handgun in 2018 while lying about his use of drugs at the time. 

Mr Biden now faces the possibility of another prosecution on tax charges amid his father’s reelection bid.

Meanwhile, the IRS agents, their lawyers and House Republicans have maintained they followed the law in how the information about Mr. Biden was disclosed to Congress and covered by whistle-blower protection. 

They also said the House Ways and Means Committee handling the investigation has legal jurisdiction to do so.