A Trump tax return was under IRS scrutiny, the report said

Only one of Donald Trump’s annual federal income tax returns was audited by the IRS when he was president, although the agency had a policy dating back to 1977 to conduct mandatory tax audits of incumbent presidents, a House committee said in a new report Tuesday night.

And that the IRS review of Trump’s 2016 income tax return was ongoing by the time he left office in January 2021, the Ways and Means Committee report noted.

And neither of the two Trump-affiliated companies that the IRS told the committee were part of the mandatory audit program were designated for an audit in five of the six years covered by an investigation, according to the report.

And in this sixth year, in 2017, there is “no evidence” that the companies’ tax returns were for audit, the report says.

“Apparently, during the previous government, the mandatory audit program was dormant at best,” the report said.

The report came shortly after the Democrat-led panel voted along the party line to authorize the public release of redacted copies of Trump’s federal tax returns and those of eight related companies in the coming days.

Those tax returns were obtained by the IRS after Trump lost a three-year legal battle that ended in the Supreme Court ruling against him to prevent the committee from getting the paperwork.

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the Ways and Means Committee chair, said in a statement accompanying the report, “We anticipated that the IRS would expand the mandatory auditing program to reflect the complex nature of the former’s financial situation.” However, I have not found any evidence to take account of the President.”

“This is a major failure of the IRS under the previous administration and certainly not what we were hoping to find,” Neal said.

The report found that when Trump was in the White House, the IRS failed to schedule Trump’s 2015 tax returns when he was running for president, and then again for the 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 tax returns for mandatory review years .

“The former president’s individual income tax returns filed in 2018, 2019 and 2020 were selected for audit only after he left office, and only the 2016 tax return was subject to a mandatory audit,” the report said.

And: “Remarkably, the IRS sent a letter to the former president informing him that his tax year was 2015
The statement was selected for consideration on April 3, 2019, the date the Chair sent it out
initial request to the IRS for the former President’s tax return and related tax return.

The Ways and Means Committee report recommended that there should be a statutory requirement that a president’s tax returns be audited annually by the IRS, “with timely disclosure of certain audit information and related statements.”

“Such a legal requirement would ensure the integrity of the IRS, allow IRS staff to fully review all matters, and restore confidence in the federal tax system,” the report said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement late Tuesday night that the House of Representatives will “proceed swiftly to advance Chairman Richard Neal’s legislation requiring the Internal Revenue Service to conduct an annual audit of the President’s finances.” got to”.

For years, Trump has refused to voluntarily release his tax returns to the public, claiming they are audited by the IRS.

The Internal Revenue Service passed an internal policy in 1977 that allegedly mandated mandatory audits of incumbent presidents and vice presidents.

But the report said that “nothing has been said to Congress about the operation since then
this program.”

“Until recently, the committee was not sure if the IRS conducted these
Mandatory examinations and if so, whether they complied with this policy, thorough,
and fair,” says the report.