IRS didn't start auditing Trump's presidential-era taxes until day House Democrats asked for records in 2019

The House Ways and Means Committee released a handful of documents and reports on former President Donald Trump's sparser-than-expected 2015-2020 tax returns Tuesday night, shortly after voting along party lines to release the long-sought returns to the public. The tax documents themselves won't be made public for a few days, until after committee staff have redacted personal information like bank accounts and taxpayer ID numbers.

Committee Democrats focused Tuesday night on the IRS's mandatory audits of Trump during his presidency. They found them lacking. Trump filed his 2015 and 2016 tax returns in 2017, the year he took office, but the IRS did not select any of his presidential-era returns for an audit until April 3, 2019 — the same day committee chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) requested access to Trump's taxes and any associated audits, the committee's report said.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.