IRS On Donald Trump: 'Nothing Prevents Individuals From Sharing Their Own Tax Information'

[Miles Archer]

IRS On Donald Trump: 'Nothing Prevents Individuals From Sharing Their Own Tax Information'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/irs-donald-trump_us_56d083b5e4b0871f60eb2c06

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said during Thursday's GOP primary debate that he can't release his tax returns because he is currently being audited by the IRS, but the agency says nothing prevents individuals from sharing their tax information.

"Federal privacy rules prohibit the IRS from discussing individual tax matters. Nothing prevents individuals from sharing their own tax information," the IRS said in a statement, responding to a HuffPost inquiry.

While the IRS says anyone can release their own tax information at any time, some tax lawyers advised it may not be in an individual's best interest to do so.

"Think of an audit as an investigation, an on-going investigation," Steven Goldburd, a lawyer who specializes in tax law, told The Washington Post. "Any person that has legal counsel, their legal counsel will say, 'If you're under investigation, you should not be talking to the media, you should not be talking to anyone other than your legal counsel or through your legal counsel.'"

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. Republicans, as many Americans, hate the IRS. I don't think the release of his tax info will have..

quite the impact his opponents are hoping for. They'll convince themselves that this is just another attempt by the Federal government to take down one of their own. It may be slightly embarrassing for "The Donald", but I think his devoted supporters are with him for the long haul.

[Ex Lurker]

2. Unless it's blatant tax evasion, I think you're right

Most Americans know the IRS can find something wrong with your tax return if they want to. Perhaps something big is coming down the line to derail him, but for better or worse, I think we'll get The Donald as the GOP nominee.

[1939]

3. Low hanging fruit

On any large and complex corporate or individual tax return, accountants will often place questionable items into the return on the theory that the IRS auditor will quickly discover those and go away happy with the added taxes and penalties that he was able to find. The IRS auditor gets a bonus for recovering a large sum and doesn't dig deeper into the return. The accountants know it will be caught, but the penalties and interest are worth it to avoid a deeper investigation. Given his wealth, I would imagine that Trump's return has a lot of borderline legality "low hanging fruit" in it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. Tax info can be suspect, especially current year.

rMoney released his tax return to show that he paid some percentage. If, a day later, he filed an amended return so he would pay much less, that info would not have to be disclosed.

Plus, the released info can be a total fabrication. The IRS will not confirm or deny the accuracy of a press release.

Maybe the minimum info required by campaign law might be sort of truthful, but press releases?