Tax Analysts Obtains IRS Exempt Organizations Training Materials Under Freedom of Information Act Request

FALLS CHURCH, Va., Jan. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tax Analysts, the nonprofit provider of federal, state, and international tax news and analysis, today announced that the IRS has released more documents in response to its Freedom of Information Act request for training materials used in guidance for the IRS exempt organizations determinations office.

Tax Analysts requested the documents in May 2013 following the controversy regarding the determinations office's handling of exemption applications from conservative organizations. Tax Analysts brought suit against the IRS in August, seeking expedited processing of the request. The IRS released roughly 1,000 pages in September, followed by another 1,800 pages in November. A judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on January 7 ordered that the IRS produce the remaining documents responsive to the FOIA request by January 15.

The latest materials, which total just under 1,200 pages, consist of student guides for exempt organizations determinations; learning objectives and course requirements; sample case processing forms for exemption applications; teaching materials and objectives for instruction on section 501(c)(4) organizations; definitions of relevant EO measurement terms like "solely" and "primarily" and their corresponding activity percentages; and training materials for EO determinations specialists. The documents released on January 15 primarily date from 2009, before the controversial application review policies for the determinations office were in effect.

"Retrieving these documents was a small victory in our continuous and ever-growing fight for transparency," said Christopher Bergin, president and publisher of Tax Analysts. "But it should be noted that what Tax Analysts asked for were training materials, which should be publicly available to begin with. The fact that it took us eight months, a lawsuit, and a court order to get the training materials the agency released is not, I believe, a positive sign on how the IRS is dealing with its problems."

As part of its public education mission, Tax Analysts seeks transparency in tax laws and more dialogue between tax authorities and taxpayers. Through these and other efforts, Tax Analysts seeks to ensure that tax laws are applied fairly and equally to taxpayers across the country.

Read the released documents here.

For more information or to speak with Bergin, please contact Shaima Cardillo at 703-531-4852 or [email protected].

About Tax Analysts

Tax Analysts is an influential provider of tax news and analysis for the global community. Over 150,000 tax professionals in law and accounting firms, corporations, and government agencies, as well as academics, rely on Tax Analysts' federal, state, and international content daily. Key products include Tax Notes, Tax Notes Today, State Tax Notes, State Tax Today, Tax Notes International, and Worldwide Tax Daily. Founded in 1970 as a nonprofit organization, Tax Analysts has the industry's largest tax-dedicated correspondent staff, with more than 250 domestic and international correspondents. For more information, visit our home page.

CONTACT:
Shaima Cardillo, 703-531-4852
[email protected]

SOURCE Tax Analysts