Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.
* IRS inquiry status told to White House in April. Jonathan Weisman and Brian Knowlton – The New York Times.
The chief White House lawyer, Kathryn Ruemmler, learned last month that a Treasury inspector general had concluded an audit of the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, weeks before the matter became public, according to a senior White House official.
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* How the IRS seeded the clouds in 2010 for a political deluge three years later. Zachary Goldfarb and Kimberly Kindy – The Washington Post.
The story of the IRS’s policy of targeting right-leaning groups was one of a bureaucracy caught in a morass of uncertainty and outside pressure.
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?* How the IRS spun out of control. Joseph Tanfani – The Los Angeles Times.
With little oversight from Washington, agents in Ohio had been singling out some conservative groups for extra scrutiny, seeking to make sure they were not too heavily involved in politics to qualify as tax-exempt.
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* 10 questions for the tax men of Congress. John Harwood – The New York Times
. Dave Camp and Max Baucus sat down with John Harwood of The New York Times and CNBC on Thursday, one day before the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the IRS’s actions.
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* States bank on online sales tax. Amy Schatz – The Wall Street Journal.
Congress hasn’t yet agreed to end tax-free shopping on the Internet, but some states already are planning how they’ll spend the money.
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