![]() ![]() If it was resolved in Trump’s favor, then maybe the IRS rolled over and played dead. “If it was not resolved, the IRS stalled. “What happened?” said Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. The documents released Tuesday indicate that Trump continued to collect tax benefits from those losses through 2018. The New York Times found that before he entered the White House, Trump was facing an IRS audit potentially tied to a $72.9 million tax refund arising from $700 million in losses he claimed in 2009. But when Trump spoke of being audited, it’s unclear whether he was referring to the mandatory process specifically aimed at presidents or prior reviews that are more typical for wealthy individuals. There are no laws that would have barred Trump from voluntarily releasing his returns even if they were being audited. “I would love to give them, but I’m not going to do it while I’m under audit,” Trump said on April 10, 2019, before boarding the presidential helicopter. The reports released Tuesday renewed scrutiny on one of the biggest questions that has surrounded Trump since he shifted from a reality television star to an unlikely presidential candidate: Why did he abandon the post-Watergate tradition of White House hopefuls releasing their tax returns? Trump and those around him have consistently said that IRS audits prevented him from doing so. “We also fail to understand why the fact that counsel and an accounting firm participated in tax preparation ensures the accuracy of the returns.” “We must express disagreement with the decision not to engage any specialists when facing returns with a high degree of complexity,” the tax committee report states. They frequently determined that a limited examination was warranted because Trump hired a professional accounting firm that they assumed would make sure Trump “properly reports all income and deduction items correctly.” IRS agents in charge of the audits repeatedly did not bring in specialists with expertise assessing the complicated structure of Trump’s holdings. The IRS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.īut an accompanying report released by Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also found repeated faults with the IRS’s approach toward auditing Trump and his companies. Trump spent much of Tuesday evening releasing statements on his social media platform that were unrelated to his tax returns. But the report found that the audit process was “dormant, at best.” There was no suggestion that Trump, who has announced a third presidential run, sought to directly influence the IRS or discourage the agency from reviewing his tax information. Richard Neal, the panel chairman, asking the IRS for information related to Trump’s tax returns. ![]() The IRS only began to audit Trump’s 2016 tax filings on April 3, 2019, more than two years into Trump’s presidency and just months after Democrats took control of the House. ![]() WASHINGTON (AP) - The IRS failed to pursue mandatory audits of Donald Trump on a timely basis during his presidency, a congressional panel found on Tuesday, raising questions about statements by the former president and leading members of his administration who claimed he could not release his tax filings because of the ongoing reviews.Ī report released by the Democratic majority on the House Ways and Means Committee indicated the Trump administration may have disregarded an IRS requirement dating back to 1977 that mandates audits of a president’s tax filings. ![]()
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