Politics

IG report: ‘Corrective actions have not been fully implemented’

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The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report released Tuesday, reveals that the IG believes the issues raised have not been fully resolved.

The hotly anticipated report delves into the fact that the IRS singled out conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status for enhanced scrutiny, delayed their applications and burdened groups with unnecessary requests, including donor information.

According to the report, Acting Deputy Inspector General for Audit Michael E. McKenney believes the issues has not been completely corrected.

“Nine recommendations were made to correct concerns we raised in the report, and corrective actions have not been fully implemented,” McKenney wrote in a memo dated Tuesday and included in the report. “Further, as our report notes, a substantial number of applications have been under review, some for more than three years and through two election cycles, and remain open.”

“Until these cases are closed by the IRS and our recommendations are fully implemented, we do not consider the concerns in this report to be resolved,” he added.

The inspector general recommended in part that the IRS improve documentation of the reasons applications are held for review, develop a process to track assistance requests, publish guidance, offer training to employees in advance of election cycles, finalize the remaining “political campaign intervention cases” and request that the “social welfare activity guidance be developed by the Department of the Treasury.”

“In their response to the report, IRS officials agreed with seven of our nine recommendations and proposed alternative corrective actions for two of our recommendations,” the report reads. “TIGTA does not agree that the alternative corrective actions will accomplish the intent of the recommendations and continues to believe that the IRS should better document the reasons why applications potentially involving political campaign intervention are chosen for review and finalize and publish guidance.”

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