WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The outgoing head of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service angered Republican lawmakers on Friday by resisting their demands that he identify who at the tax-collection agency had inappropriately targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny.

But during the first hearing into a growing IRS scandal that could preoccupy Washington for months, Republicans did learn that a top official in President Barack Obama’s administration knew that the IRS was looking into targeting by the tax agency nearly a year ago.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers accused leaders of the Internal Revenue Service of lying on Friday as they opened the first in a series of investigative hearings about the tax collection agency’s targeting of conservative groups.

Republicans and Democrats said senior IRS officials should have alerted Congress last year when they found out that their examiners were singling out Tea Party groups for intense scrutiny when the groups applied for tax-exempt status.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Republicans probing the Internal Revenue Service want to question five employees about the tax agency’s targeting of the Tea Party and other conservative groups, an effort that a key lawmaker said on Wednesday was part of a fact-finding mission.

“It appears that a number of IRS employees played key roles in carrying out the improper scrutiny,” Republican Representative Darrell Issa, head of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a letter to the IRS requesting transcribed interviews with the employees.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington’s top tax official was fired on Wednesday as President Barack Obama sought to stem a rising tide of criticism over the Internal Revenue Service’s improper targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny.

With three congressional probes of the IRS looming and Republicans’ calls for firings at the agency growing louder, Obama said he told Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to demand the resignation of Steven Miller, the acting IRS commissioner. Lew had done so, the president said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington’s top tax official was fired on Wednesday as President Barack Obama sought to stem a rising tide of criticism in a scandal over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny.

Seeking to regain the initiative amid a series of controversies that have threatened his second-term agenda, Obama said new leadership was needed to restore public confidence in the IRS, whose reputation for political independence has suffered a major blow.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington’s top tax official was fired on Wednesday as President Barack Obama sought to stem a rising tide of criticism in a scandal over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny.

Seeking to regain the initiative amid a series of controversies that have threatened his second-term agenda, Obama said new leadership was needed to restore public confidence in the IRS, whose reputation for political independence has suffered a major blow.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington’s top tax official was fired on Wednesday as President Barack Obama sought to stem a rising tide of criticism over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny.

Seeking to regain the initiative amid a series of controversies that have threatened his second-term agenda, Obama said new leadership was needed to restore public confidence in the IRS, whose reputation for political independence has suffered a major blow.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As Republican lawmakers stepped up their calls for top Internal Revenue Service officials to resign, President Barack Obama planned to meet with Treasury officials on Wednesday to discuss how to respond to the growing uproar over the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny.

A day after a Treasury Department inspector general’s report that described how poor management led to an “inappropriate” focus on claims by conservative groups for tax-exempt status, several lawmakers set their sights on acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. government watchdog faulted the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative groups on Tuesday, criticizing senior IRS leaders for poor management of a policy that spun out of control and compromised the tax agency’s political impartiality.

As the FBI mounted a criminal investigation of the matter, the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reported that the IRS used “inappropriate criteria” when it singled out groups for extra scrutiny based on their names.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A government watchdog sharply criticized the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday for singling out conservative groups for extra scrutiny and warned that the agency’s actions gave the appearance that it was not politically impartial.

Citing poor management and substantial delays in processing of applications from groups for tax-exempt status, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) said the IRS used “inappropriate criteria” for screening applications.