IRS glitch masked $51m in political donations, finance watchdog says

Source: The Guardian

Fri 20 Mar 2026 07.00 EDT
Last modified on Fri 20 Mar 2026 11.19 EDT


A technical glitch at the understaffed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is masking millions of dollars in campaign contributions to state-level election groups, including key governor and attorney general races, a campaign finance watchdog has told the Guardian.

A total of $51m for the second half of 2025 remains unaccounted for due to this technical error, according to the Center for Political Accountability (CPA), a non-profit that tracks corporate spending.

Researchers at the CPA noticed the discrepancy in February, when donor and spending lists from the year before are typically made public after a 31 January deadline. But so far, the disclosures remain blank. The gaps come as these organizations face another filing deadline just weeks away, with no sign that the error will be fixed by then.

“It’s a major change in norms for what’s been a pretty routine process for major political organizations,” said Jeanne Hanna, vice-president of research at the CPA. “This is a midterm year that we’re going into. There’s going to be a lot of spending on state races, and these are the groups that are coordinating huge chunks of spending.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/20/irs-error-political-donations