Battered by a scandal over delays in approving groups for tax-exempt status and plagued by a backlog tens of thousands of cases long, the Internal Revenue Service unveiled a strikingly stripped-down online application last year to speed the process.

But to critics, the I.R.S.’s version of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is fraught with problems. An unlikely coalition of tax lawyers, state enforcement agents and even many nonprofits that favor simpler rules say that the agency — by not asking any questions about governance, conflicts of interest or function, and saying applicants don’t have to reveal any such issues — is making it too easy to commit fraud.

The form, 1023-EZ, was introduced over the summer and is available to small charities with an annual income of $50,000 or less and assets under $250,000. Instead of wrestling with a painstaking 26-page application that demands extensive documentation, these groups can now fill out a two-and-a-half page checklist that requires no additional paperwork or even a statement of purpose.

“In many communities, it takes more to get a library card than it takes to get this new exempt status,” said Tim Delaney, president and chief executive of the National Council of Nonprofits, a network of charitable groups. His group opposed the new form, arguing that the I.R.S. is abdicating its responsibility to screen groups, and that, in the long run, potential abuse will undermine public trust in charities.