Tax Matters – D.C. Court of Appeals Blasts IRS

BY JOHN ALAN COHAN, ATTORNEY AT LAW

The Obama Administration’s IRS scandal is back in the news. The function of the IRS is to help American taxpayers understand and meet their tax responsibili- ties, and to apply the Tax Code with integrity and fairness to all.

Occasionally one might encounter a bad IRS agent who makes a false statement under oath; discloses confidential information about a taxpayer without proper authority; or falsifies or destroys records. One of the most egregious things a rogue agent might do is to retaliate against or harass a taxpayer.

A remarkable decision involving the IRS was handed down on August 5, 2016, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rebuked the IRS for discriminating against conservative groups by impeding their applications for tax exempt status.
The case involved various organizations that had filed applica- tions with the IRS for tax exempt status as charitable or educa- tional organizations. Instead of processing these applications in the normal course of IRS business, the IRS selected these appli- cants for more rigorous review based on their names, which in each instance suggested certain conservative political orienta- tions. IRS employees delayed, denied and generally mishandled the applications of disfavored applicants.

Organizations that were critical of Obamacare were targeted, as well as Tea Party applicants. Hundreds of organizations were subjected to improper harassment and invasive requests for po- litical and financial information.

As is now well-known, the IRS engaged in a “targeting scheme” that identified applicants associated with conservative causes for enhanced scrutiny. This involved a multi-review process, harassing questions, and burdensome requests for information (including donor lists, and internet passwords and usernames).

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Posted by Alex on Sep 14 2016. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.