... he has yet to produce definitive proof that he is really being investigated.
To back up the contention that he is being audited, Trump’s campaign earlier this year released a letter from his tax lawyers stating that he was under audit. That leaves the public having to take the word of Trump’s paid legal advocates. There’s a more definitive option: The real estate developer could very easily produce documentation from the Internal Revenue Service stating that he is under audit.
When the IRS audits a person or a business, it’s standard procedure for the federal tax-collecting agency to send an audit letter that informs the subject that returns are being scrutinized. If Trump is really under an audit, he would have this letter, and he would be perfectly free to release it. Sometimes, the IRS will notify a subject with a phone call, but it’s always followed by a letter, according to the IRS.
After Newsweek asked for a copy of the IRS audit letter sent to Trump, a campaign spokesperson last week pointed to the campaign’s website and the letter that was released by Trump’s attorneys at the Washington, D.C., firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. A follow-up query to the campaign asking for a copy of the actual IRS audit letter itself has gone unanswered. Newsweek offered to accept a redaction of any personal information that might be in the letter, such as a Social Security number, although generally audit letters contain just a name and address, which in Trump’s case is well known to be Trump Tower.
In lieu of producing the audit letter, there’s really no proof that Trump is being audited.
The letter from Trump’s tax lawyers, Sheri Dillon and William Nelson, is no substitute. It deals with Trump’s personal returns, but it’s also kind of a business return as well. Dillon and Nelson note that he has “sole proprietorships” in some 500 different entities, making his personal returns “inordinately large and complex.”
In the letter, the lawyers claim the mogul has been under “continuous examination” by the IRS since 2002, “consistent with the IRS’ practice for large and complex businesses.” The letter also asserts that IRS examinations of Trump’s tax returns from 2002 to 2008 have been “closed administratively,” while its examinations of returns for the years since 2009 are “ongoing.”
The lawyers also claim that Trump’s recent tax returns are essentially extensions of his older returns, which include “items that are attributable to continuing transactions or activities that were also reported on returns for 2008 and earlier.” Translation: Even old returns that are not under audit can’t be released because they’re integral to what’s being currently audited.
