A document has come to light giving some indication that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may be preparing to enforce the “no-politicking” rule against houses of worship.

A letter from the IRS was made public by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which announced recently that it has withdrawn a lawsuit over the IRS’s failure to investigate churches accused of partisan politicking. The group made that decision after the tax agency convinced the organization that it has resolved a procedural issue that prevented church audits.

In July, FFRF said that it reached a “settlement” in Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Miller. This led to allegations from the Religious Right that the IRS had cut a “secret deal” with the FFRF and would soon crack down on churches involved in unlawful politicking.

The reality was somewhat different. Journalist Sarah Posner reported that the FFRF voluntarily withdrew the lawsuit because the group became convinced that the IRS does in fact have a mechanism in place to investigate houses of worship that break the law by engaging in partisan politicking.

FFRF produced a letter that the IRS wrote to officials at the U.S. Department of Justice dated June 27, 2014. The missive states that the IRS “has processed several cases involv­ing churches using procedures designed to ensure that the protections afforded to churches by the Church Audit Procedures Act are adhered to in all enforcement interaction between the IRS and churches.”

The IRS says it has established a “Political Activities Referral Committee” (PARC) to investigate these allegations. PARC is up and running and has determined “as of June 23, 2014, 99 churches merit a high priority examination” for partisan political activity undertaken during the years 2010-13.

FFRF filed its lawsuit in 2012 on the basis that churches receive preferential treatment from the IRS in violation of the U.S. Constitution. IRS critics, including Americans United, say the agency has reinforced this perception thanks to its ongoing failure to crack down on partisan politicking by houses of worship.

Part of the problem stemmed from a 2009 lawsuit involving a church in Minnesota that was being audited by the IRS. The church argued in court that the audit had not been approved by a “high-ranking” IRS official, as federal law requires.

The church won in court, bringing all church audits and investigations for politicking to a halt as the IRS announced plans to reorganize and formulate new church-audit procedures. The years passed, and seemingly no progress was made. Americans United would occasionally prod the IRS, and officials there would insist that the process was under way. In a letter AU received from the IRS in February of 2014, an agency attorney assured the group that “Work on final regulations…is ongoing” and that resolving this issue was among the IRS’s “2013 - 2014 Priority Guidance Plan.”

Even though the IRS has said it has the proper procedures in place to once again conduct church audits, some observers believe this will not happen soon thanks to allegations – which have since been shown to be without merit – that it subjected Tea Party groups to undue scrutiny. But Americans United said the IRS must move past that scandal and punish churches that defy the tax code.