(03-01) 11:48 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The Internal Revenue Service is battling tea party and other conservative groups that claim the government is purposely frustrating their efforts to gain tax-exempt status.
Documents provided by some of the groups show the IRS wants painstaking details about the groups' postings on Twitter and other social networking sites, information on donors and key members' relatives, and minutes of meetings.
The IRS won't comment on specific cases but says it simply wants to gather enough information to decide if the groups qualify for tax-exempt status. This would require the organizations not to be involved primarily in activities that could influence an election.
