In the wake of the tea party scandal, you might think that Congress would want to bolster up the IRS’s exempt organizations division to ensure proper staffing and oversight. But you would be wrong. The House recently cut the IRS tax enforcement division budget by $1.2 billion (a 25% cut). The cut is a reflection …
Posts Categorized: IRS
Failure to Preserve Lerner's Emails Violative of Federal Law?
The IRS’s failure to preserve former IRS official Lois Lerner’s emails is continuing to be problematic for the IRS and now appears to be causing trouble for the White House too. Cause of Action, a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan government watchdog, recently released a memo alleging that the IRS’s failure to preserve Lerner’s emails may constitute a …
IRS Releases Short Form Exemption Application – Form 1023-EZ
The IRS has forged ahead in the face of opposition from charity regulators and several nonprofit associations and introduced a short form exemption “application.” To be eligible to use the form, an organization must be able to answer “No” to each of 26 yes or no questions, including the following 3: Do you project that …
IRS Releases Progress Report on Exemption Application Backlog
It may be hard to remember now why the scandal surrounding Lois Lerner started. Late last week the IRS reminded us. On Thursday it released an update on its progress reviewing the social welfare organization backlog. The backlog included organizations identified in May, 2013 as being selected by the IRS for additional scrutiny based on …
Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act
In a surprising twist to the Lois Lerner saga, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) recently announced the Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act. The proposed bill reflects Stockman’s belief that the IRS must allow taxpayers to offer “a variety of dubious excuses” for missing documentation as the IRS has done for the Lerner emails it has …
IRS Transfers Data on Nonprofits to FBI
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s investigation into the IRS targeting scandal revealed last week the IRS transfer of 1.1 million-page database of information about tax-exempt organizations to the FBI. The Justice Department turned over the 21-disk database of information to the Committee in response to a subpoena. Reps. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) and …