United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2002-07-17 monographic deposited born digital 69 p. GA 1.13:GAO-02-444 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-444 P0b002ee180375106 f:d02444 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-444 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-444 GAO-02-444 Disclosure law Information disclosure Noncompliance Reporting requirements Strategic planning Tax exempt organizations Other Written Product A03999 Tax-exempt Section 527 organizations are estimated to spend millions of dollars annually in federal elections. These organizations use unregulated "soft money" for indirect or "issue advocacy," such as sponsoring an advertisement that supports or opposes a candidate's position on an issue. Although all states required them to provide data on their finances and activities to the public, no central source for such data existed. In July 2000, Congress passed P.L. 106-230, that requires Section 527 organizations to provide data on their purposes, officers, contributors, and expenses to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for public disclosure. IRS established a web site for this purpose, but GAO found that the Section 527 Web site has shortcomings in making the disclosed data accessible to the public. Based on discussions with public users and GAO's tests, the Web site is difficult to use, and most of the disclosed data are not electronically searchable and downloadable, which can inhibit timely analysis of the relationship between political organizations and the influence of soft money on federal campaigns. IRS has performed limited oversight of Section 527 organizations' compliance with the law's filing and reporting requirements and as a result, has provided little assurance that the data it disclosed on the Section 527 web site are timely, complete and correct. IRS officials said that oversight has been limited because of competing demands for resources, a focus on educating Section 527 organizations, on publicly disclosing the data, and having little electronic data on Section 527 organizations. IRS has not developed a strategic plan to carry out its responsibilities for ensuring that the requirements of the law are met. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-444/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-444.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-444/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-444.pdf GAO-02-444 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-444 Other Written Product GAO-02-444; Political Organizations: Data Disclosure and IRS's Oversight of Organizations Should Be Improved; Disclosure law Information disclosure Noncompliance Reporting requirements Strategic planning Tax exempt organizations Public Law 103-62 Public Law 106-230 Public Law 107-155