<!-- wp:html --><p>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</p>
<p>The quest for Donald Trump’s taxes is finally over and whatever secrets Trump fought for years to conceal will <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-committee-votes-donald-trumps-personal-business-tax-records-rcna62212">soon be revealed</a> for all to see. But one fact is already clear: the IRS botched its job.</p>
<p>The IRS is required to conduct audits of the President and Vice-President while they are in office. This requirement arose in 1997, likely in response to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/28/archives-richard-nixons-income-tax-bill-1-670-2-years/3561578001/">concerns over President Nixon’s tax troubles</a>. But the policy–enshrined in the IRS manual, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/irm/part4/irm_04-008-004#idm139994953458320">section 4.8.4.2.4</a>–was not followed during Trump’s term in office. During his four-year term, the agency opened only one audit–of this 2016 return–which only commenced in 2019 after Chairman Richard Neal of the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the IRS seeking Trump’s returns and tax information. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/us/politics/trump-irs-taxes.html">That audit</a> is still not finished. </p>
<p>As the Committee characterized it, the IRS presidential audit program <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/21/investing/trump-taxes/index.html">was “dormant”</a> during Trump’s term.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/we-havent-seen-trumps-taxes-yet-but-its-clear-the-irs-failed-america?source=articles&via=rss">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
The quest for Donald Trump’s taxes is finally over and whatever secrets Trump fought for years to conceal will soon be revealed for all to see. But one fact is already clear: the IRS botched its job.
The IRS is required to conduct audits of the President and Vice-President while they are in office. This requirement arose in 1997, likely in response to concerns over President Nixon’s tax troubles. But the policy–enshrined in the IRS manual, section 4.8.4.2.4–was not followed during Trump’s term in office. During his four-year term, the agency opened only one audit–of this 2016 return–which only commenced in 2019 after Chairman Richard Neal of the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the IRS seeking Trump’s returns and tax information. That audit is still not finished.
As the Committee characterized it, the IRS presidential audit program was “dormant” during Trump’s term.
