Report Says IRS Site on 527 Groups Needs Improvement - June 1, 2004 Vol.5, No.11

June 1, 2004 Vol.5, No.11:

Published: 06/01/2004

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Report Says IRS Site on 527 Groups Needs Improvement

A May 12 report by the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration found that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has complied with a 2002 Congressional mandate to make its website disclosing finances of Section 527 political committees searchable. However, the report said improvements are needed.

In 2000 Congress passed what was known as the "Stealth PAC law" to require political committees that do not report to the Federal Election Commission to disclose their contributins, donors and expenditures to the IRS. In 2002 the law was amended to mandate electronic filing and require the IRS to make the information available on the web in a searchable format. It exempted committees that work on state or local elections and report to state authorities from filing requirements.

The report, Improvements Are Needed to the Updated Web Site for Political Organizations to Increase the Accuracy and Consistency of Search Results for Filing Information (No. 2004-10-097), found that some search results yielded incomplete or inaccurate information, but noted the IRS is moving to address the problem.