GOP Senators Question IRS on Audits of Advocacy Donors

Six Republican lawmakers on the Senate’s powerful Finance Committee want the Internal Revenue Service to explain why it recently decided to audit five donors who have made contributions to advocacy groups.

Sens. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Roberts of Kansas, John Cornyn of Texas, John Thune of South Dakota, and Richard Burr of North Carolina, today sent a letter requesting information about who in the IRS chose to start the investigation.

The IRS said this month that it had notified five donors to politically active 501(c)(4) groups that their contributions to the advocacy organizations could be subject to gift taxes.

The IRS has said the investigations were all started “by career civil servants without any influence from anyone outside the IRS.”

But Republican lawmakers are questioning the tax agency’s motives.

“Retroactive enforcement of the gift tax in this highly politicized environment raises legitimate concerns and demands further explanation,” the letter said. “The more pressing question, not answered to date, is whether political appointees inside or outside the IRS were involved in any way in the decision to prioritize this category of cases.”

The lawmakers have given the IRS until May 31 to respond to their request.