time line of events
2010
March-April: IRS agents begin giving extra attention to tax-exempt applications from groups associated with the Tea Party or with a political sounding agenda in their names, such as "Patriots," "Take Back the Country" or "We the People," according to the IRS inspector general.
2011
June: Lawmakers send the first of at least eight letters asking the IRS to address complaints that conservative groups are being subjected to burdensome screening in their applications for tax-exempt status.
June 29: Lois Lerner, in charge of overseeing tax-exempt organizations at the IRS, learns at a meeting that groups are being targeted, according to the inspector general.
Dec. 16: Lerner does not divulge the information when she and others from the IRS meet staff members of the House Ways and Means Committee, according to the staff's timeline of events.
2012
January: The criteria for screening, altered after Lerner's staff meeting six months earlier, is modified again. Now the IRS is looking for references to the Constitution or Bill of Rights in the materials of organizations seeking tax-exempt status, for "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government," and more.
March 22: IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman tells Congress there is "absolutely no targeting" of groups based on political views.
May: Lerner does not divulge the flagging in letters to two lawmakers inquiring about it.
May 3: Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller is told by staff that applications for tax-exempt status by Tea Party groups were inappropriately singled out for scrutiny, the IRS said.
