Exhibit 889

Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review (2013-10-053)

Exhibit 889 · Inspector general audit

Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review (2013-10-053)

The IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention.

Found the IRS selected applications by names and policy positions (Tea Party, Patriots, 9/12). Of 296 potential political cases at 17 December 2012, 108 approved, 28 withdrawn, none denied, 160 open 206 to 1,138 days; some information requests asked for lists of past and future donors.

Source: Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
Date: 14 May 2013
Quoted from: Highlights page (What TIGTA Found); Results of Review p. 5
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://web.archive.org/web/2013/http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2013reports/201310053fr.pdf
Accessed: 2026-11-10
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding POL-5.12: Primary record TIGTA found that from early 2010 the IRS selected exemption applications by names and policy positions, and that every application with "Tea Party," "Patriots" or "9/12" in its name was processed as a potential political case. The criteria TIGTA reviewed also included "Progressive," Occupy, ACORN Successors and Emerge, and 6 of 20 applications with "progress" or "progressive" in the name (30 percent) were processed as potential political cases.