IRS failed to timely pursue mandatory audits of Trump, House panel says

The IRS failed to carry out mandatory audits of former President Donald Trump in a timely manner during his time in office, the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee found, as the tax agency said it lacked the resources to examine potential issues. 

"The Committee’s investigation found the mandatory program was dormant, at best, with only one audit opened while the former President was in office, and none have been completed," the House Democrats said Tuesday.

Trump's 2016 taxes, which were filed in November 2017, were selected by the IRS for an audit in September 2019, the same day the Ways and Means Committee requested the former president's returns, the panel found. Trump's filings from 2018, 2019 and 2020 were audited after he left office. 

"Over our objections in opposition, Democrats in the Ways and Means Committee have unleashed a dangerous new political weapon that overturns decades of privacy protections," said Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the panel, according to The Associated Press. "The era of political targeting, and of Congress’s enemies list, is back and every American, every American taxpayer, who may get on the wrong side of the majority in Congress is now at risk."

An internal IRS memo said Trump's taxes could not be audited due to a lack of resources. "With over 400 flow-thru returns reported on the Form 1040, it is not possible to obtain the resources available to examine all potential issues," the memo stated.

Potential issues flagged by the committee that were not reviewed by the IRS included questions about documentation to support more than $20 million in charity donations, over $125 million in sales and $27 million in corporation expenses.

The committee recommended for Congress to pass a law requiring mandatory IRS audits to be conducted while a president is still in office. The IRS should use the $79 billion allocated through the Inflation Reduction Act to increase "examinations of high-income taxpayers with complex partnership and passthrough returns," the panel said, among other recommendations.