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Documents Show Liberals in I.R.S. Dragnet

WASHINGTON — The instructions that Internal Revenue Service officials used to look for applicants seeking tax-exempt status with “Tea Party” and “Patriots” in their titles also included groups whose names included the words “Progressive” and “Occupy,” according to I.R.S. documents released Monday.

The documents appeared to back up contentions by I.R.S. officials and some Democrats that the agency did not intend to single out conservative groups for special scrutiny. Instead, the documents say, officials were trying to use “key word” shortcuts to find overtly political organizations — both liberal and conservative — that were after tax favors by saying they were social welfare organizations.

But the practice appeared to go much farther than that. One such “be on the lookout” list included medical marijuana groups, organizations that were promoting President Obama’s health care law, and applications that dealt “with disputed territories in the Middle East.”

Taken together, the documents seem to change the terms of a scandal that exploded over accusations that the I.R.S. had tried to stifle a nascent conservative political movement. Instead, the dispute now revolves around questionable sorting tactics used by I.R.S. application screeners.

The acting I.R.S. commissioner, Daniel I. Werfel, formally ordered an end to all such “lookout” lists on Monday when he issued an assessment of the controversy that has led to harsh criticism of the nation’s tax collector.

Such lists were in use as recently as this month, when Mr. Werfel took over the agency, far longer than initially thought. I.R.S. officials said Monday that the more recent lists did not include the terms aimed at conservative groups.

Mr. Werfel on Monday also created an expedited process for groups to attain the tax-exempt status known as 501(c)(4). To qualify, groups must agree that no more than 40 percent of their expenditures and time can be spent on campaigns for candidates seeking public office. At least 60 percent of the groups’ time and expenses must be dedicated to social welfare activities.

The new I.R.S. documents raise questions about how the controversy has been portrayed. They confirm that the applications of “various local organizations in the Tea Party movement” were given special scrutiny. But so were “progressives.”

“Common thread is the word ‘progressive,’ ” a lookout list instructs. “Activities appear to lean toward a new political party. Activities are partisan and appear as anti-Republican.”

But groups with no political inclinations were also examined. “Open source software” organizations seeking nonprofit status “are usually for-profit business or for-profit support technicians of the software,” a lookout list warns. “If you see a case, elevate it to your manager.”

“Regional health information organizations” seeking nonprofit tax exemptions for their electronic health care data-collection efforts were sent to the same I.R.S. group sorting through the Tea Party applications.

Groups involved more generally in carrying out the Affordable Care Act were also sent to the I.R.S. for “secondary screening.”

And “occupied territory advocacy” seemed subject to the most scrutiny of all.

“Applications may be inflammatory, advocate a one-sided point of view, and promotional materials may signify propaganda,” according to instructions with a lookout list.

House Democrats seized on the documents to question why the Treasury inspector general, in the audit that began the scandal, omitted any mention of scrutiny that did not focus on conservatives. Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee demanded a second hearing with the inspector general, J. Russell George, to allow him to “explain the glaring omission in his audit report.”

“The audit served as the basis and impetus for a wide range of Congressional investigations, and this new information shows that the foundation of those investigations is flawed in a fundamental way,” said Representative Sander M. Levin of Michigan, the committee’s ranking Democrat.

Republicans said that I.R.S. scrutiny of conservatives went beyond delayed tax-exemption applications to other abuses, like the leaking of confidential information and inappropriate and intrusive questions.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: Documents Show Liberals in I.R.S. Dragnet. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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