WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A manager from a U.S. Internal Revenue Service office in Cincinnati where staff have been accused of unfairly subjecting conservative groups to extra scrutiny has said his agents were not influenced by any political agenda.

John Shafer, who described himself as “a conservative Republican,” told congressional investigators he sought advice from his boss on how to handle the first Tea Party application he and a lower-level agent came across in February 2010 because it was a new, high-profile issue.

By Kim Dixon and Kevin Drawbaugh

(Reuters) – Internal Revenue Service employees in Ohio, who singled out conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny, likely did not consider the political implications, an IRS official in Washington has told congressional investigators.

Providing additional details about the worst crisis to hit the IRS in years, tax agency official Holly Paz told investigators she was concerned when she learned that IRS employees were singling out groups with “Tea Party” and other key words in their names.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional investigators probing the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s scrutiny of conservative political groups will interview a key Washington IRS official on Friday and want to speak with as many as 20 more people, sources told Reuters on Thursday.

IRS lawyer Carter Hull will be deposed by congressional lawyers on Friday, said sources close to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives committee taking the lead in an inquiry that involves several panels on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A congressional committee probing the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s heightened scrutiny of conservative groups plans to interview a Washington IRS official involved in overseeing Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status, sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Carter Hull, an IRS lawyer, will be interviewed this week, said a source close to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives committee taking the lead in various investigations of the matter.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Support from U.S.-based multinational companies is coalescing around a proposal to stem offshore profit shifting and cut the tax rate on some corporate profits, a top congressional Republican working to revamp the tax code said on Thursday.

Under the proposal, income from intangible assets such as patents and trademarks earned by U.S. companies abroad would face an immediate 15 percent tax rate. That would be well below the present 35 percent tax rate that can be deferred by leaving profits abroad. Companies would also get an immediate deduction for taxes paid.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Internal Revenue Service manager, who described himself as a conservative Republican, told congressional investigators that he and a local colleague decided to give conservative groups the extra scrutiny that has prompted weeks of political controversy.

In an official interview transcript released on Sunday by Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, the manager said he and an underling set aside “Tea Party” and “patriot” groups that had applied for tax-exempt status because the organizations appeared to pose a new precedent that could affect future IRS filings.

WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Internal Revenue
Service, under political fire and distracted by leadership
changes, faces a big job and tight deadlines in months ahead as
one of the main federal agencies implementing President Barack
Obama’s new healthcare law.

More than 40 tax code changes were part of 2010′s Affordable
Care Act (ACA), the president’s signature domestic policy
achievement. Some changes are already in place, but several take
effect in January 2014 and the IRS is still figuring them out.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A misfired email from a U.S. Internal Revenue Service employee in Cincinnati alerted a number of Washington IRS officials that extra scrutiny was being place on conservative groups in July 2010, a year earlier than previously acknowledged, according to interviews with IRS workers by congressional investigators.

Transcripts of the interviews, reviewed by Reuters on Thursday, provided new details about Washington managers’ awareness of the heightened scrutiny applied by front-line IRS agents in Cincinnati to applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups with words like “Tea Party” in their names.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top official at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Thursday acknowledged that it was “embarrassing” how much the tax agency spent on training videos, including a Star Trek spoof, and other lavish expenses during a 2010 conference in California.

Faris Fink, commissioner of the agency’s small business and self-employed division, told lawmakers the videos, which cost more than $50,000 to produce, were well-intentioned but in hindsight inappropriate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has suspended two employees – including one working on President Barack Obama’s healthcare initiative – for improperly accepting gifts at an agency conference, two congressional staff members briefed on the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The tax-collecting agency – already battling a political scandal and accusations of lavish spending – has begun a process to remove the two employees for violating ethics rules pending a review, the IRS said.