Threat of an IRS audit is enough to wake you up in a cold sweat, but sleep soundly: Fed workers are too busy poking around where they shouldn’t.

IRS tax examiner John Snyder was arrested on May 29 on charges that he accessed over 200 tax records, most of which belonged to Hollywood stars and pro athletes. (Hey, we’re just as obsessed with Brangelina as he is, but we save it for when we’re not on company time.)

Despite being authorized to examine only business accounts, Snyder took his time browsing through random records of individual taxpayers.

That’s not even the tip of the iceberg, says the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). Between 1997 and 2007, TIGTA investigated 4,704 causes of UNAX — that’s IRS lingo for “unauthorized access to taxpayer information by IRS employees.”

And it’s not only Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan they’re looking at — far and wide, employees can pull up info on any person and business they like.

TIGTA’s investigations resulted in 444 terminations, 407 suspensions, 215 admonishments and 139 “other forms” of disciplinary actions. Another 883 employees resigned before IRS was able to give them any degree of a slap-on-the-wrist, but 176 employees faced criminal prosecution.

But not every case of UNAX is discovered — IRS relies on an automated detection program and fellow employee whistle-blowers to catch those with spying eyes.

Tags: Brangelina, IRS, Lohan, TIGTA, UNAX