<P> Minns also had previously asserted that the behavior of two IRS attorneys at law, Kenneth McWade and William A. Sims, constituted legal misconduct and recommended them for disbarment . Following an investigation, the law licenses of the IRS attorneys were duly suspended for a two - year period after a federal court ruling found that the two had indeed defrauded the courts in connection with 1,300 tax shelter cases . In 2003, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded that the IRS lawyers had corruptly agreed with certain taxpayers that no tax collection actions would be taken against them--in return for testimony against other taxpayers . The court also asked why the IRS had not punished the two . </P> <P> In 2013, the IRS became embroiled in a political scandal in which it was discovered that the agency subjected conservative or conservative - sounding groups filing for tax - exempt status to extra scrutiny . </P> <P> On September 5, 2014, 16 months after the scandal first erupted, a Senate Subcommittee released a report that confirmed that Internal Revenue Service used inappropriate criteria to target Tea Party groups, but found no evidence of political bias . The chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations confirmed that while the actions were "inappropriate, intrusive, and burdensome," the Democrats have often experienced similar treatment . Republicans noted that 83% of the groups being held up by the IRS were right - leaning; and the Subcommittee Minority staff, which did not join the Majority staff report, filed a dissenting report entitled, "IRS Targeting Tea Party Groups ." </P> <P> On May 25, 2015, the agency announced that criminals had illegally accessed the private tax information of over 100,000 taxpayers over a period of several months . By providing Social Security Numbers and other information obtained from prior computer crimes, the criminals were able to use the IRS's online "Get Transcript" function to have the IRS provide them with the tax returns and other private information of American tax filers . On August 17, 2015, IRS disclosed that the breach had compromised an additional 220,000 taxpayer records . On February 27, 2016, the IRS disclosed that more than 700,000 social security numbers and other sensitive information had been stolen . </P>

Is irs and department of revenue the same