WASHINGTON (AP) – Lax oversight at the IRS increases the risk that political and religious groups could be unfairly targeted for audits, government investigators say in a report that raises concerns about an IRS division that has been under scrutiny for singling out conservative organizations.
The Government Accountability Office found no evidence that agents improperly audited any groups. But a new GAO report released Thursday says poor oversight increases the risk that agents could select tax-exempt groups for audits based on their religious, educational or political views.
There are 1.6 million tax-exempt groups in the U.S., according to the GAO report. Fewer than 1 percent are audited each year, a process that can be costly and time-consuming for both the IRS and the group being audited.
“We first learned the IRS was unfairly singling out conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status,” said Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., chairman of the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee.
“This report exposes a new and more egregious frontier of potential targeting in the agency’s audit selection process,” Roskam said.