Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in mid-May and has been updated.
Story highlights
76 - Percentage in a recent poll who said a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the IRS
$2,524,320,134,000 - Total taxes collected by the IRS in fiscal year 2012
3,357 - Applications received by the IRS in fiscal year 2012 for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status
121 days - The IRS's overall goal for completing each application for tax-exempt status
The controversy over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status is back in the headlines with two hearings this week.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services held a hearing Monday where the Treasury inspector general for the IRS testified and Daniel Werfel, the embattled agency’s new acting commissioner, appeared before Congress for the first time since taking over the agency at President Barack Obama’s request. Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee will hear from groups who say they were targeted.
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By the numbers, here’s a look at the IRS:
$2,524,320,134,000 - Total taxes collected by the IRS in fiscal year 2012.
146,244,000 - Total tax returns received for individual income tax returns in fiscal year 2012.
70 - Percentage of closed applications for tax-exempt status that were approved in fiscal year 2012 during an initial review with little or no additional information from the organizations.
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2 - Employees in the IRS Cincinnati office accused of being principally responsible for “overly aggressive” handling of requests by conservative groups for tax-exempt status, according to a congressional source.
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298 - Cases as reviewed by the IRS inspector general as potential political cases not eligible for tax exempt status as of May 31, 2012.
72 - Case files under review where the organization’s name contained “Tea Party.”
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13 - Cases under review where the name included the word “Patriots.”
160 - Cases under review that had been held open for at least 206 to 1,138 days (almost three years).
121 days - The IRS’s overall goal for completing each application for tax-exempt status.
76 - Percentage of respondents in a recent poll who said a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups.
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66,543 - Number of applications received by the IRS in fiscal year 2012 for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
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3,357 - Number of applications received by the IRS in fiscal year 2012 for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status.
At least 3 – the number of lawsuits filed regarding the IRS’s practice of targeting conservative groups.
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2,042,458 - Total number of notices to taxpayers that they had made a math error on their 2011 return.
707,768 - Number of notices of federal tax liens filed, for fiscal year 2012.
1,973 - New investigations filed in fiscal year 2012. (An investigation begins when the taxpayer doesn’t respond to delinquency notices.)
10.3 - Audit examination rate per thousand individual income tax returns in fiscal year 2012.
55 - Percentage of Americans who said in April 2013 they thought the amount of federal taxes they had to pay was fair, according to a Gallup Poll. It was the lowest percentage since 2001.
29 - Percentage of Americans who told the Pew Research Center in April 2013 they actually like doing their taxes!
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