LISTEN LIVE
WATCH LIVE
WTMJ
Saturday, May 24, 2025
55.9 °f
Milwaukee
48.6 ° Sun
49.1 ° Mon
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Breaking News
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Environment
    • Featured Stories
    • Government and Politics
    • Health
    • National
    • News Features
    • Wisconsin
    Human remains found in Waukesha

    Waukesha Police investigating large fight at senior living center

    Milwaukee DPW 2025 Memorial Day Holiday Schedule

    Danish recycling artist reveals vision for larger-than-life Wauwatosa trollĀ 

    Danish recycling artist reveals vision for larger-than-life Wauwatosa trollĀ 

    Pancake Breakfast Special: The Most Artificial of Intelligences

    Pancake Breakfast Special: The Most Artificial of Intelligences

    Massive house fire outside the town of Brighton

    Federal prison time for robbing mail carriers and stealing mail

  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Driver’s Ed with Debbie
  • Sports
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers All Access Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks in 6 Minutes
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Insiders Podcast
    • NCAA
  • On-Air
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
      • Everyday Hero
    • Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey
      • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
    • The Upswing
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • America’s Music Cities Holiday with John Mercure & Collette
      • Kingdoms of Southeast Asia with John Mercure & Collette
    • What’s On Tap
      • Germany, Austria, & Czech Republic – Beer & Brewery Tour with Sandy Maxx & Journeys Connect
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • The Truth: Unfiltered
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • The Mid-West Farm Report
  • Podcasts

    Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast

    You Need To Listen Podcast

    You Need To Listen Podcast

    Brewers All Access Podcast

    WTMJ Conversations Podcast

    Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey

    Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast

    Bucks Talk: The Podcast

    Bucks+ Audio Podcast

    Bucks+ Audio Podcast

    The Upswing

    What’s On Tap Podcast

    Scaffidiology Podcast

    The Truth: Unfiltered

    The Truth: Unfiltered

    Wisconsin’s Midday News Podcast

    Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast

    Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast

    Bucks Central Podcast

    Bucks Central Podcast

    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • Point Taken Podcast
    • The Upswing Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • Daily Download
    • What’s On Tap Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • Decision Wisconsin Podcast
    • The Mid-West Farm Report Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Podcast
      • Experience Wisconsin Podcast
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
    • Brewers All Access Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks in 6 Minutes
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Scaffidiology Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • WTMJ Extras Podcast
    • The Truth Unfiltered: The Podcast
    • Green & Gold Insiders Podcast
  • Specialty Shows
    • Experience Wisconsin
    • Fix It Show
    • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
    • Home Improvement Showcase
    • Sunday Sip
  • Partners
    • Events
      • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
      • Summerfest
      • Wisconsin State Fair
    • Features
      • Every Day Health
      • Experience Wisconsin
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
      • The Knowledge Brokers from R&R Insurance
      • Travel Wisconsin
    • Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Fox World Travel Show
        • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Joshing Around Milwaukee Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
      • What’s the Difference? with Gina Della
  • About
    • Schedule
    • Bios
    • Contests
    • History & Timeline
    • Advertise
    • Careers
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Breaking News
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Environment
    • Featured Stories
    • Government and Politics
    • Health
    • National
    • News Features
    • Wisconsin
    Human remains found in Waukesha

    Waukesha Police investigating large fight at senior living center

    Milwaukee DPW 2025 Memorial Day Holiday Schedule

    Danish recycling artist reveals vision for larger-than-life Wauwatosa trollĀ 

    Danish recycling artist reveals vision for larger-than-life Wauwatosa trollĀ 

    Pancake Breakfast Special: The Most Artificial of Intelligences

    Pancake Breakfast Special: The Most Artificial of Intelligences

    Massive house fire outside the town of Brighton

    Federal prison time for robbing mail carriers and stealing mail

  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Driver’s Ed with Debbie
  • Sports
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers All Access Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks in 6 Minutes
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Insiders Podcast
    • NCAA
  • On-Air
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
      • Everyday Hero
    • Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey
      • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
    • The Upswing
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • America’s Music Cities Holiday with John Mercure & Collette
      • Kingdoms of Southeast Asia with John Mercure & Collette
    • What’s On Tap
      • Germany, Austria, & Czech Republic – Beer & Brewery Tour with Sandy Maxx & Journeys Connect
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • The Truth: Unfiltered
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • The Mid-West Farm Report
  • Podcasts

    Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast

    You Need To Listen Podcast

    You Need To Listen Podcast

    Brewers All Access Podcast

    WTMJ Conversations Podcast

    Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey

    Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast

    Bucks Talk: The Podcast

    Bucks+ Audio Podcast

    Bucks+ Audio Podcast

    The Upswing

    What’s On Tap Podcast

    Scaffidiology Podcast

    The Truth: Unfiltered

    The Truth: Unfiltered

    Wisconsin’s Midday News Podcast

    Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast

    Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast

    Bucks Central Podcast

    Bucks Central Podcast

    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • Point Taken Podcast
    • The Upswing Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • Daily Download
    • What’s On Tap Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • Decision Wisconsin Podcast
    • The Mid-West Farm Report Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Podcast
      • Experience Wisconsin Podcast
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
    • Brewers All Access Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks in 6 Minutes
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Scaffidiology Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • WTMJ Extras Podcast
    • The Truth Unfiltered: The Podcast
    • Green & Gold Insiders Podcast
  • Specialty Shows
    • Experience Wisconsin
    • Fix It Show
    • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
    • Home Improvement Showcase
    • Sunday Sip
  • Partners
    • Events
      • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
      • Summerfest
      • Wisconsin State Fair
    • Features
      • Every Day Health
      • Experience Wisconsin
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
      • The Knowledge Brokers from R&R Insurance
      • Travel Wisconsin
    • Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Fox World Travel Show
        • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Joshing Around Milwaukee Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
      • What’s the Difference? with Gina Della
  • About
    • Schedule
    • Bios
    • Contests
    • History & Timeline
    • Advertise
    • Careers
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
No Result
View All Result

IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight

by AP News
December 22, 2022, 8:30 am
in AP Business, AP News

By FATIMA HUSSEIN
Associated Press

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, ā€œshould always be kept in an orange folder,ā€ should be kept from the eyes of IRS employees and ā€œshould be locked in a secure drawer or cabinet when the examiner or reviewer is away from the work area.ā€

The report released Tuesday by the Democratic majority on the House Ways and Means Committee said the process, which dates to 1977, was ā€œdormant, at bestā€ during the early years of the Trump administration.

By comparison, there were audits of 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.ā€

Democrats in Congress are responding by introducing legislation that would codify the IRS policy into law with more stringent requirements.

Tax experts say the failure to launch the audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS’ capacity to examine high-income taxpayers’ returns — and a reminder of Trump as a norm-defying president.

John Koskinen, who served as IRS commissioner during both the Obama and Trump administrations, said the policy has been out of the public eye because presidents have traditionally released their tax-return summaries to the public.

ā€œIt only became an issue with a president who refused to release his tax returns,ā€ Koskinen said. ā€œIf Trump had been releasing his returns, nobody would have raised this issue.ā€

Trump’s tax returns being handed over to Congress recently is the culmination of a yearslong legal fight between Trump and Democratic lawmakers.

Steve Rosenthal, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said the IRS’ failure to audit Trump is a showing that ā€œthe mandatory auditing program is broken, we cannot rely on the current system to fairly audit the president, and there’s a general problem of the IRS auditing sophisticated taxpayers.ā€

Rosenthal added: ā€œThis is a much larger problem than Donald Trump — yes, he makes bad things worse, but the situation was bad to begin with.ā€

A new $80 billion infusion of funds through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act is supposed to remedy the beleaguered agency’s low staffing levels, outdated technology and host of other issues. Republicans who are poised to take control of the House in less than two weeks, however, have said they want to cut that funding.

Tuesday’s committee report revealed that the IRS only began to audit Trump’s 2016 tax filings on April 3, 2019, more than two years into Trump’s presidency and just months after Democrats took control of the House. That date coincides with Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the panel chairman, asking the IRS for information related to Trump’s tax returns.

The report’s findings prompted lawmakers to recommend a statutory requirement for the mandatory examination of the president’s taxes, with ā€œdisclosure of certain audit information and related returns in a timely manner.ā€

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he will work to pass the bill through the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber would ā€œmove swiftlyā€ to advance the legislation.

The issue highlights frustration with the so-called tax gap, which is the difference between how much money is owed to the federal government and how much is paid. IRS data released in October projects that for 2017 to 2019, the estimated average gross tax gap will be $540 billion per year.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in August, and has repeated at various speaking engagements, that the new funds allocated by Congress would be used to increase audits on high-wealth individuals, firms and complex pass-throughs.

ā€œThis is challenging work that requires a team of sophisticated revenue agents in place to spend thousands of hours poring over complicated returns, and it is also work that has huge revenue potential,ā€ she told former IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig in August.

In an application of the IRS policy on mandatory presidential audits, well-trained agents, forensic experts, tax attorneys and others would be required to oversee a presidential audit as complicated as Trump’s, which included hundreds of businesses, properties and complex business interests.

The congressional report highlighted the lack of staffing and availability of experts to examine Trump’s taxes. The report states that the IRS believed that accuracy of his filings was ensured because he had legal counsel and an accounting firm representing him.

The question of whether presidential tax documents should be disclosed is another matter of debate among tax experts and advocates.

Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, said Congress would be setting a ā€œdangerous new precedentā€ by releasing the presidential records. Koskinen said that ā€œit’s a significant serious precedent for a committee to seek returns and then release them.”

ā€œI see two big issues here — what is the IRS going to do to ensure presidents are audited regularly, and what’s the rationale for releasing these returns,” Koskinen said.

Rosenthal said he thinks presidential returns should be publicly disclosed to ensure proper oversight.

ā€œWhen this information is made public, the president is going to be more wary about cheating on their taxes and making them public — the results would put both the IRS and president on their best behavior,ā€ he said.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Previous Post

AP Top Entertainment News at 9:30 a.m. EST

Next Post

NFL ‘Sunday Ticket’ headed to YouTube beginning next season

AP News

AP News

Next Post

NFL 'Sunday Ticket' headed to YouTube beginning next season

Connect with WTMJ on Social Media!

More Top Headlines

Discover Brookfield, MKE Downtown, Lake Lawn/Majestic Oaks Golf & Watersports/Lake Tours – 05-24-25

by Evan Witalison

Read moreDetails

Experience Wisconsin – Lake Lawn/Majestic Oaks Golf & Watersports/Lake Tours – 05-24-25

by Evan Witalison

Read moreDetails

Experience Wisconsin – MKE Downtown – 05-24-25

by Evan Witalison

Read moreDetails

Sign Up For WTMJ Insiders Below:

Loading

Weather Currents

Milwaukee, United States of America
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Partly cloudy
55.9 ° f
57%
12.6mh
60 f 39 f
Sun
56 f 42 f
Mon
WTMJ

Ā© 2025 Good Karma Broadcasting.

Navigate Site

  • Careers
  • Contact
  • EEO PUBLIC FILE REPORT
  • FCC Public File
  • FCC Applications
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • LISTEN LIVE
  • WATCH LIVE
  • Home
  • News
    • News
    • Local News
  • Weather
    • Weather
    • Watches and Warnings
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
  • Traffic
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
    • Milwaukee Brewers
    • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Shows
    • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey
      • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
    • The Upswing
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • America’s Music Cities Holiday with John Mercure & Collette
      • Kingdoms of Southeast Asia with John Mercure & Collette
    • What’s On Tap
      • Germany, Austria, & Czech Republic – Beer & Brewery Tour with Sandy Maxx & Journeys Connect
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • The Mid-West Farm Report
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
  • Podcasts
  • Partners
    • Events
      • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
      • Summerfest
      • Wisconsin State Fair
    • Features
      • Every Day Health
      • Experience Wisconsin
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
      • The Knowledge Brokers from R&R Insurance
      • Travel Wisconsin
    • Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • The Fox World Travel Show
      • Joshing Around Milwaukee Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
      • What’s the Difference? with Gina Della
  • Features
    • Features
    • Good Karma Give Back
  • Contests
  • Alexa

Ā© 2025 Good Karma Broadcasting.