IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight
WASHINGTON (AP) — An IRS policy governing the audits of tax returns filed by U.S. presidents is under new scrutiny after a report published by a congressional panel found the agency failed to perform the mandatory inspection of Donald Trump’s returns until Congress pressed for information about the process.
The three-point policy states that individual returns for the president and the vice president are subject to mandatory review, “should always be kept in an orange folder,” should be kept from the eyes of IRS employees and “should be locked in a secure drawer or cabinet when the examiner or reviewer is away from the work area.”
The report released Tuesday by the Democratic majority on the House Ways and Means Committee said the process, which dates to 1977, was “dormant, at best” during the early years of the Trump administration.
By comparison, there were audits of President Joe Biden for the 2020 and 2021 tax years, said Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman. The first determined the Bidens were due an additional federal income tax refund, Bates said by emails. The second, for 2021, “found that they owed an additional $13, which could have been waived under IRS policy but they chose to pay.”
https://apnews.com/article/business-donald-trump-195e3d06db7c396fea69c2111a5cb98f
