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-- 2016 --
February 26: Trump says he ‘can’t’ release his tax returns. The IRS doesn’t see why not.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article62756312.html
February 27: Donald Trump says the IRS is after him because of his “strong Christian” beliefs
But the only law that pits the IRS against Christians with any frequency is the Johnson Amendment of 1954. That law places restrictions on how churches use their money, but it has always applied equally to universities, museums, private foundations and other non-profits.
“There’s absolutely no evidence that the IRS has ever targeted any individuals for audits based on their religious beliefs,” said Robert Boston, a spokesman for the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Bob Tuttle, professor of Law and Religion at George Washington University, agreed. “I don’t see the IRS in any way making a systematic effort to take on religious groups, much less individuals, because of their faith,” he said.
https://timeline.com/donald-trump-says-the-irs-is-after-him-because-of-his-strong-christian-beliefs-67f7fdd06935
February 28: No Ordinary Audit: Donald Trump Is Facing The IRS 'Wealth Squad'
https://www.forbes.com/sites/irswatch/2016/02/28/no-ordinary-audit-donald-trump-is-facing-the-irs-wealth-squad/#688ed0864d71
September 14: We’re suing the IRS for audits of Donald Trump’s tax returns
For more than a year, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has claimed that he would "love" to release his tax returns and prove to the public that he is indeed a very wealthy and charitable businessman.
But, he's said, there's a hiccup that prevents him from doing so: The tax returns he filed between 2002 and 2008 continue to be audited by the Internal Revenue Service.
Last February, however, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said that it is "rare" for an individual taxpayer to be audited every year, as Trump insisted he has been. Koskinen noted there is nothing legally stopping any taxpayer from releasing his or her returns publicly.
https://news.vice.com/article/were-suing-the-irs-for-audits-of-donald-trumps-tax-returns
September 25: Donald Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns has long been a subject of conjecture. To that, we’d like to add a related mystery:
Why did the IRS begin auditing Donald Trump in 2002? Why that year in particular?
Donald Trump’s finances were always complicated and fertile ground for the IRS, yet, it only began auditing him in 2002.
This is particularly striking because that places the agency’s apparent sudden interest in Trump right after the time Felix Sater, an FBI informant, began working inside Trump Tower.
And an audit in 2002 would be looking at tax returns from 2001.
Again, that seems significant because it is in 2001 that we see Sater go active in Trump Tower.
https://whowhatwhy.org/2017/09/25/curious-coincidences-irs-trump-audit/
November 1: Donald Trump Used Legally Dubious Method to Avoid Paying Taxes
Donald J. Trump proudly acknowledges he did not pay a dime in federal income taxes for years on end. He insists he merely exploited tax loopholes legally available to any billionaire — loopholes he says Hillary Clinton failed to close during her years in the United States Senate. “Why didn’t she ever try to change those laws so I couldn’t use them?” Mr. Trump asked during a campaign rally last month.
“Whatever loophole existed was not ‘exploited’ here, but stretched beyond any recognition,” said Steven M. Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center who helped draft tax legislation in the early 1990s.
In the eyes of the I.R.S., a dollar of canceled debt is the same as a dollar of taxable income.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/donald-trump-tax.html
November 22: Trump’s charity admits to violating IRS self-dealing ban
President-elect Donald Trump’s charity has admitted that it violated IRS regulations barring it from using its money or assets to benefit Trump, his family, his companies or substantial contributors to the foundation ... not only during 2015, but in prior years.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-charity-admits-violating-irs-self-dealing-ban
November 30: IRS Will Audit Trump’s Taxes Annually During Presidency
It doesn't mean he has to make them public, though
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/irs-will-audit-trumps-taxes-annually-presidency
December 6: How the Trump Administration Can Stop IRS Abuse of Political Groups
https://www.weeklystandard.com/jerome-m-marcus/how-the-trump-administration-can-stop-irs-abuse-of-political-groups
-- 2017 --
January 31: President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring federal agencies to eliminate two rules for every new one might delay the IRS’s work on regulations, including much-needed rules on the new partnership audit regime, former officials told Bloomberg BNA.
The Jan. 30 executive order is another significant step in Trump’s efforts to fulfill his campaign promise that he would cut back federal regulations. It follows a Jan. 20 White House memorandum placing a freeze on all federal rulemaking until the new administration can review all regulations in process.
https://www.bna.com/new-trump-executive-n57982083093/
February 28: With President Trump looking to for way to cut government waste, the Internal Revenue Service seems like an inviting target. But cutting the IRS’s budget could backfire, costing the Treasury far more than it saves, while also creating headaches for taxpayers
http://time.com/money/4685489/trump-to-cut-irs-budget/
March 3: Here’s the Basic Problem With Trump’s Plan to Slash the IRS Budget
Trump administration proposal to slash the budget of the beleaguered Internal Revenue Service by more than 14 percent next year has further heightened concerns that the new president’s spending and tax cut strategies will drive the deficit to record levels.
Long under assault by Republican lawmakers, the IRS in recent years has been forced to make significant cutbacks in audits and tax compliance operations, fostering widespread tax cheating and major revenue losses for the U.S. Treasury. Last year, the IRS reported a staggering $458 billion average annual difference between taxes that were owed and actually paid – the so-called “tax gap.”
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2017/03/03/Here-s-Basic-Problem-Trump-s-Plan-Slash-IRS-Budget
March 9: Republicans want to know why Trump hasn't fired the IRS head
Nearly two months into the Trump administration, the IRS commissioner House Republicans once threatened with impeachment remains on the job.
John Koskinen's continued tenure may be surprising, considering how aggressively Republicans went after him under the Obama administration. But despite a sustained push by congressional Republicans to oust the IRS chief before his five-year term expires this November, President Trump so far has made no move to do so.
Just last week, Koskinen was seen in the Capitol and told Fox News he was there to meet with “old friends.” Asked if he intended to stay on as commissioner during the Trump administration, Koskinen simply said, “They haven’t talked to me.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/09/republicans-want-to-know-why-trump-hasnt-fired-irs-head.html
March 16: Trump Budget Cuts IRS Funding by $239 Million
https://www.atr.org/trump-budget-cuts-irs-funding-239-million
April 17: Thanks to Trump, These Taxpayers May Avoid the IRS
This Tax Day, many undocumented immigrants are afraid to file their taxes.
National Public Radio reports that while millions of undocumented immigrants previously filed federal tax forms to prove their “good moral character” in immigration proceedings, many are now wary of leaving a paper trail amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. While there is supposed to be a firewall between the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security, many immigrants are skeptical that it will protect them from deportation.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/04/undocumented-immigrants-federal-taxes-trump/
May 4: Declaring he was giving churches their “voices back,” President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at easing an IRS rule limiting political activity for religious organizations — a move that fell far short of a more sweeping order some supporters had expected.
As he marked the National Day of Prayer at the White House on Thursday, Trump signed the order on religious freedom, which directs the Treasury Department to not take “adverse action” over churches or religious organizations for political speech. The rule has rarely been enforced. Still, opponents said the restrictions have a chilling effect on free speech.
https://www.apnews.com/b071d04487b94f1bb3614a046159c2e0
May 5: Atheist group sues Trump over IRS executive order
A Wisconsin-based atheist group has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to strike down President Donald Trump’s order easing enforcement of an IRS rule limiting religious organizations’ political activity.
A 1954 federal law prohibits tax-exempt charitable organizations such as churches from participating in political campaigns. Violators could lose their tax-exempt status, but the law — known as the Johnson Amendment — has rarely been enforced.
The IRS doesn’t make its investigations of such cases public, but only one church is known to have lost its tax-exempt status as a result of the law. Still, Trump has long promised conservative Christians who supported his White House bid that he would block the regulation.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/05/atheist-group-sues-trump-over-irs-executive-order/101355830/
June 15: The Trump Administration’s Underrated Threat To The IRS
If further weakening of IRS funding doesn’t do enough damage to the federal government’s ability to collect revenue, an even more worrisome possibility looms.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-trump-administrations-underrated-threat-to-the_us_5942fb6fe4b024b7e0df4a84
August 2: Three Donald Trump appointees owe IRS back taxes
Officials include White House director of intergovernmental affairs
https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/08/02/20986/three-donald-trump-appointees-owe-irs-back-taxes
September 2: Trump fined by the IRS for contribution to Florida AG Pam Bondi
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi cost Donald Trump a $2,500 penalty to the IRS this year after the businessman's charitable foundation made an illegal political contribution to Bondi's re-election campaign.
Registered nonprofits like the Trump Foundation cannot make political donations.
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2016/09/02/trump-fined-by-the-irs-for-contribution-to-florida-ag-pam-bondi
September 18: Why Robert Mueller Probably Has Trump's Tax Returns
As the special counsel's probe continues, actions point to access to the president's closely held financial information.
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-09-18/robert-mueller-likely-has-donald-trumps-tax-returns
September 21: Here's How Much Trump Might Owe the IRS
Donald Trump, who’s long sold himself as a great philanthropist, is facing a deluge of criticism for allegedly using his foundation as a personal slush fund. A recent expose in the Washington Post charged that Trump funneled $258,000 from the charity’s coffers to settle lawsuits dogging his businesses, and his staff has admitted to sending an illegal, $25,000 contribution to the reelection campaign of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, sparking widespread accusations that Bondi declined to investigate Trump University in exchange for the tycoon’s largesse.
The “donate-gate” revelations prompted Eric Schneiderman, the New York State Attorney General, to launch a criminal investigation. But bad as using his philanthropy’s funds for his own benefit may look, the maximum penalties the IRS is likely to levy on Trump are surprisingly, even shockingly, mild.
http://fortune.com/2016/09/21/donald-trump-foundation-irs/
September 27: The special counsel Robert Mueller enlisted the IRS' criminal investigations unit earlier this month as part of his inquiry into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia — but the unit has only just begun to share information about key players like Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, according to CNN.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-irs-and-mueller-took-a-big-step-forward-in-the-russia-probe-2017-9
September 28: Trump Finds a New Way to Profit Off the Presidency
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/donald-trump-irs-commissioner
October 10: Trump Weaponizes IRS, Urges an End to NFL Tax Breaks
https://www.thestreet.com/story/14337009/1/trump-urges-an-end-to-tax-breaks-for-nfl.html
November 6: Billionaire Robert Mercer did Trump a huge favor. Will he get a payback?
The Internal Revenue Service is demanding a whopping $7 billion or more in back taxes from the world’s most profitable hedge fund, whose boss’s wealth and cyber savvy helped Donald Trump pole-vault into the White House.
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article147454324.html
November 15: The IRS Is Building a Safe to Hold Trump’s Tax Returns
Departed tax chief John Koskinen explains why even he can't see Trump’s taxes—and why we should ‘beware the collapse of the IRS.’
Koskinen basically believes the IRS and its professional culture are virtually impregnable to political agendas. He hasn’t spoken to Trump or anyone in the White House in 2017, even though he’s known the president since they negotiated the sale of the Commodore Hotel in New York City in 1975. He’s never looked up Trump’s tax returns—legally, he can’t, and neither can any other IRS employee who isn’t working on them—and says the agency not only keeps them in a locked cabinet in a locked room, but is replacing the cabinet with a safe.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/15/john-koskinen-taxes-215830
November 20: The Trump Foundation Is Closing After Admitting It Broke IRS Rules
... the foundation acknowledged to the IRS that it had transferred money or assets to benefit someone with ties to the charity — such as a Trump family member.
The Trump Foundation has run afoul of the IRS before by contributing to the political campaign of Florida's Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Afterward, Bondi dropped a potential investigation of Trump University.
https://www.wmar2news.com/newsy/the-trump-foundation-is-closing-after-admitting-it-broke-irs-rules
December 21: Trump’s Mar-a-Lago tax deal veiled from IRS review
Donald Trump’s deal with the town of Palm Beach to turn Mar-a-Lago into a private club hinged on an act of charity crafted to skirt IRS scrutiny and deliver for Trump a seven-figure tax break, a Palm Beach Post investigation has found.
To make sure Trump could get the $5.7 million deduction, America’s future president and his lawyers intentionally left out those details from the written agreement with town officials.
The deal, which took shape in public meetings over several months in 1993, provides the best look at Trump’s largest form of charity: an obscure and controversial land-use deduction known as a preservation easement.
https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/trump-mar-lago-tax-deal-veiled-from-irs-review/pYex7aWWSm6Zz4qQRU5twI/
December 23: Trump hid Mar-a-Lago tax deal from IRS
A new report from the Palm Beach Post shows Trump used a "dirty tax scam" to avoid millions in taxes. This, as new analysis shows Trump could save more than 11 million in the new GOP tax bill
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/trump-hid-mar-a-lago-tax-deal-from-irs-1122799683660
-- 2018 --
January 25: Trump Tax-Returns Defender on Tap to Head IRS: Report
The choice of tax litigator Charles Rettig would reportedly break a two-decade precedent during which IRS chiefs tended to come from corporations.
http://ww2.cfo.com/tax/2018/01/trump-tax-returns-defender-tap-head-irs-report/
February 15: Donald Trump’s Pick to Run the IRS Was the Attorney for “Girls Gone Wild” Creator
President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the IRS, Charles Rettig, is a longtime tax lawyer who has defended people and companies against the agency in court ... But his most famous client may just be “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis, whose tax evasion case was just one of many legal woes.
Francis, who made his fortune selling videos of topless young women, was indicted in April 2007 on two counts of tax evasion. The indictment charged that his companies claimed more than $20 million in false deductions on their 2002 and 2003 corporate income tax returns, the Justice Department said in a statement. It also charged that he used offshore bank accounts to conceal the income he had earned during the time. Francis was charged with sexual battery that same month, for reportedly groping an 18-year-old young woman at a party in Hollywood.
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/15/trump-irs-charles-rettig-girls-gone-wild/
March 2: ... President Trump plans to appoint Michael J. Desmond IRS Chief Counsel and Treasury Department Assistant General Counsel:
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/03/president-trump-to-name-michael-desmond-irs-chief-counsel.html
April 10: Could Trump Corrupt the IRS and Profit From It?
https://www.citizenvox.org/2018/04/10/could-trump-corrupt-the-irs-and-profit-from-it/
April 17: President Trump isn’t going to file his taxes to the IRS on time
Like so many of us, the president is asking for a tax extension.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/17/17247962/tax-day-2018-trump-tax-plan-tax-extension-irs
May 7: Trump says he got rid of Obamacare. The IRS doesn’t agree.
Under Trump, the IRS has been pursuing companies that fail to comply with the mandate
But despite Trump’s long-standing desire to unwind the signature legislative achievement of his predecessor, many parts of the Affordable Care Act remain in place. And the Trump administration is even enforcing some of its provisions more aggressively than President Barack Obama did — a reality that has enraged business groups and Republicans in Congress who still want the law officially repealed.
While the individual mandate may be dead, the employer mandate — the requirement that many companies offer health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty — is very much alive. Under Trump, the IRS has been pursuing companies that fail to comply with the mandate and, according to the agency, was sending penalty notices to more than 30,000 businesses around the country.
https://www.ajc.com/news/trump-says-got-rid-obamacare-the-irs-doesn-agree/NBQDv4oYf3gapyd513WC6M/
May 23: The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it will issue new rules that could thwart efforts by New Jersey and New York officials to get around a provision of the new federal tax code that hurts their states more than most other states.
Leaders of both states accused President Trump's administration of playing politics, and they vowed to fight any IRS rules.
"The administration appears poised to attack again through new tax regulations, showing its true hostility to New Yorkers and middle-class taxpayers," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2018/05/23/new-irs-rules-target-new-york-attempt-take-sting-out-trump-tax-reform/639023002/
June 1: For many years under the Obama administration, Republicans controlling Congress punished the Internal Revenue Service with budget cuts that resulted in horrible service for taxpayers.
Although some service was restored, the Trump administration now plans service cuts so severe that about 40 percent of calls from taxpayers seeking telephone assistance would go unanswered.
IRS acting commissioner David Kautter, more forthright than government officials often are with bad news, predicted a significant decline in telephone service next tax filing season under the budget submitted by his boss, President Trump.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/06/01/irs-chief-says-trumps-budget-would-sharply-cut-taxpayer-service/?utm_term=.c2fd770e3b07
June 18: We're legally protecting property taxpayers from Trump, Jersey Democrats tell IRS ... New Jersey's efforts to protect the federal deduction for property taxes are perfectly legal, the state's Democratic federal lawmakers told the Internal Revenue Service Monday.
The GOP tax bill signed by President Donald Trump caps the break for state and local taxes at $10,000 -- a level far low the average deduction taken by New Jersey homeowners.
Under the state law Gov. Phil Murphy signed in response to the Republican tax plan, taxpayers will able to contribute to a municipal or school district charitable fund and get a credit a credit of up to 90 percent of their property tax bill. Unlike state and local taxes, charitable deductions are not capped.
The IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department said last month that they would write regulations addressing whether contributions to charitable funds in lieu of property taxes would be fully deductible.
https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/06/were_legally_protecting_property_tax_deduction_against_trump_jersey_tells_irs.html
June 26: The IRS shrinks the tax form but not the workload
https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/irs-smaller-1040-tax-form-postcard/
June 27:
The revelation about the hotel seems certain to come up when Chuck Rettig testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.
June 28: The Senate is assessing President Donald Trump's choice to head the IRS: Charles Rettig, a Beverly Hills tax lawyer who would face the colossal challenge of overseeing the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades ... Rettig has represented thousands of individuals and companies in civil and criminal tax matters before the agency and against it in court. He also defended Trump's decision to break with tradition by refusing to release his personal tax filings during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Rettig on Thursday comes before the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation for the post of Internal Revenue Service commissioner. Democrats on the panel are expected to ask him, given his defense of Trump's tax position, if he will uphold the political independence of the IRS and whether he will work for the benefit of the average taxpayer in implementing the new tax law — a complex, $1.5 trillion package muscled through Congress by the Republicans last year.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-rettig-trumps-choice-to-head-the-irs-under-senate-scrutiny/
June 28: At a committee hearing Thursday, senators got their first chance to gauge the priorities of Charles Rettig, President Donald Trump’s pick for IRS commissioner.
“The modernization of the IRS’ IT systems and bringing the IRS IT systems into the 21st century is one of my top goals,” Rettig said. “It serves two purposes — it serves not only the protection of taxpayer data, which I believe we all agree is a principal concern, but also modernizing the IT system serves to enhance services to what the taxpayers in this country deserve.”
The IRS has some of the oldest IT systems still running in the government. Some date back to the Kennedy administration.
Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told Rettig it’s not just the IT systems that are aging — it’s also the people ... More than a majority of the IRS’ workforce is over the age of 50, and nearing retirement age.
https://federalnewsradio.com/agency-oversight/2018/06/trumps-irs-commissioner-nominee-pushes-critical-pay-authority-for-it-positions/
June 28: Trump’s nominee to lead the IRS was just busted in major corruption scandal
https://washingtonpress.com/2018/06/28/trumps-nominee-to-lead-the-irs-was-just-busted-in-major-corruption-scandal/
June 29: The IRS is cutting the 1040 form in half.
Instead of filling two pages, the new version will take up about one, according to a draft released Friday. (The page is cut in half, and is double-sided.)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said it delivers on the promise to simplify the tax-filing process and provide a simple, postcard-sized tax form.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/politics/irs-1040-form/
June 29: Trump's New IRS 'Postcard' Is Not So Simple And Not Really A Postcard ... But a look at a draft version of the form, obtained by NPR, show things aren't quite so simple. ... For one thing, it's a rather large two-sided document, about the size of half a sheet of paper.
It does have fewer lines, 23. The current 1040 form has 79. But people will still be required to file several pages of worksheets if they wish to itemize deductions ... And, unlike an actual postcard, this one will have to be put in an envelope to be mailed — unless you want your Social Security number and private financial information on full display.
"More than 90 percent of us file our tax returns electronically," Gleckman [Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank] noted, "and I suspect if you ask most 30 year-olds about postcards they won't even know what you're talking about.
"So it's kind of a silly 1950s concept that makes for a good photo op, but it doesn't really change people's lives."
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/29/624401907/trumps-new-irs-postcard-is-not-so-simple-and-not-really-a-postcard
June 29: President Trump on Friday celebrated the six-month mark of the Republican tax-cut law ...
"Six months ago, we unleashed an economic miracle by signing the biggest tax cuts and reforms," Trump said at an event in the East Room of the White House.
He said he was also lauding "six months of new jobs, bigger paychecks and keeping more of your hard earned money where it belongs, in your pocket or wherever else you want to spend it."
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/394851-trump-celebrates-tax-laws-six-month-anniversary-as-irs-rolls-out-postcard
August 3: President Trump’s solicitous posture toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Helsinki and elsewhere, is helping to keep alive interest in his income tax returns: Does he have some hidden financial connection to the Kremlin? Unlike his waffling on policy positions and factual matters, he has consistently refused to release his returns, contrary to the practice of every president since Jimmy Carter. Still, this is a poorly understood area of the law. Here are five common misconceptions about the president’s tax returns and the public’s ability to review them.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-trumps-income-tax-returns/2018/08/03/72ec3858-9504-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.83c7e2d55f1f
August 9: IRS Proposals Clear Way for Trump Tax Cut for Insurance Brokers
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2018/08/09/497503.htm
September 13: Over the protests of many Democrats, the Senate on Wednesday evening approved President Donald Trump’s choice to become the new head of the IRS. Democrats opposed the nomination because of a new Trump administration policy allowing some groups involved in politics to hide their donors’ identities.
The Senate voted 64-33 to confirm Beverly Hills tax attorney Charles Rettig as Internal Revenue Service commissioner. Democrats who voted against him did so even though they considered him qualified for the job. Still, 15 Democrats voted with the Republicans to approve Rettig.
https://apnews.com/1c767be8e9b0475c967892ff5b201e0f
October 2: New York state tax officials are looking into fraud allegations against the Trump family in a bombshell New York Times report
The New York Times report alleges that the Trumps undervalued assets in an attempt to circumnavigate large state and gift tax bills as part of the wealth transfer from Fred to his children, including Donald.
https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-state-irs-new-york-times-nyt-donald-fred-trump-tax-fraud-2018-10
October 3: IRS unlikely to pursue tax fraud allegations against Donald Trump and family, experts say
Tax experts say President Donald Trump and his family are in no danger of facing federal criminal charges over allegations of potential tax fraud detailed by The New York Times, but they could be possibly forced to pay millions of dollars in federal back taxes, interest and civil penalties.
But even that is unlikely.
Federal law limits to six years the amount of time that prosecutors can file criminal charges in tax fraud cases.
In New York, the state Tax Department said this week it is looking into allegations described by The Times.
New York could seek civil penalties if it can prove the Trumps actively avoided paying their full tax bill.
State law provides three exceptions where the statute of limitations does not apply to civil tax penalties: When someone failed to report a return at all, when someone failed to notify the state of changes made to their federal return by the IRS or when someone filed a false or fraudulent return with the intent to evade tax.
If state tax auditors were to determine the Trumps committed fraud, they could go after them for back taxes, interest and penalties.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/03/trump-taxes-irs-unlikely-probe-fraud-claims-detailed-newspaper/1515405002/
October 3: Trump's Tax Dealings Are 'Pretty Clever' for 'Out-Dodging' IRS, Fox News Host Says
https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-tax-dealings-are-pretty-clever-out-dodging-irs-fox-news-host-claims-1150074
October 4: Trump family tax report tests new IRS chief on 2nd day in office
Charles Rettig was barely 24 hours into his new job as President Donald Trump’s hand-picked chief tax official when a bombshell news report hit, alleging shady tax dealings by Trump and his family roughly 20 years ago.
With New York state and city officials now saying they’ll examine allegations raised by the New York Times, Rettig — who built a reputation as a tough tax litigator in private practice — risks incurring Trump’s wrath if he chooses to follow suit, according to tax lawyers and veterans of the Internal Revenue Service.
Tax lawyers generally agreed on Wednesday that the situation presents a lot of intriguing possibilities. For example, even though the statute of limitations has passed in most instances, it’s possible that Fred Trump [Donald Trump's father] didn’t file gift tax returns for some years, said Caplin & Drysdale’s Kaufman. If so, the IRS wouldn’t need to cite fraud in order to open an audit — despite the long delay — she said.
https://www.accountingtoday.com/articles/trump-family-tax-report-tests-new-irs-chief-on-2nd-day-in-office
October 7: New IRS chief draws a special glare in light of Trump's tax history
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/columnists/dan-janison/tax-trump-irs-1.21517975
December 4: The attorneys general of the District of Columbia and Maryland plan to file subpoenas Tuesday seeking records from the Trump Organization, the Internal Revenue Service and dozens of other entities as part of a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of profiting off the presidency.
The flurry of subpoenas came a day after U.S. District Court Judge Peter J. Messitte approved a brisk schedule for discovery in the case alleging that foreign and domestic government spending at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel amounts to gifts to the president in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/04/subpoena-trump-organization-irs-1044543
December 18: Trump Foundation To Dissolve Amid New York AG's Investigation
New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood has announced that the Trump Foundation will dissolve. The foundation was established by Donald Trump well before he ran for president.
The news comes as her office continues its investigation into various questions about the foundation's conduct, including whether the foundation broke the law by coordinating with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and whether it was truly functioning as a charitable organization.
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/18/677778958/trump-foundation-to-dissolve-amid-new-york-ags-investigation
-- 2019 --
-- 2020 --
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