The US government could potentially approach Donald Trump for over $100 million in funds.
According to a collaboration between the New York Times and ProPublica, it has been discovered that the previous president and real estate tycoon had double-counted a construction project as a tax deduction. This resulted in the reporting of hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, which are currently being audited by the IRS.
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The audit concerns the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Trump’s most recent major building project. Constructed on the cusp of the Great Recession in 2008, the 92-story edifice posed a significant financial challenge for Trump, leading him to declare it as a “worthless” deduction on his tax return that year, asserting that the debt burden outweighed the property’s profit.
In 2010, Trump declared the tower a loss again after transferring it to a new partnership that he was still in charge of, claiming an additional $168 million in losses over the next decade, according to the research. Details of Trump’s IRS examination were first exposed in 2020, when documents showed the agency was looking into a nearly $73 million tax refund that began in 2010 — the same year as the new Chicago skyscraper deal.
The IRS declined to comment on the audit, citing federal law that prohibits it from publicly disclosing taxpayer information. Eric Trump, Trump’s son and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, defended his father’s tax strategies.
Eric Trump told the Times, “We settled this matter years ago, only to bring it back to life once my father ran for office.” Opinion letters from various tax experts, including the former general counsel of the I.R.S., support our position with confidence.
The inquiry indicates that the problem is still under audit, with the most recent public update occurring in December 2022 when the House Joint Committee on Taxation briefly mentioned it in a report.
Until the audit concludes and his legal team files any challenges, Trump is unlikely to face any tax penalties. However, the potential nine-figure bill adds to Trump’s mountain of liabilities, which include an $83.3 million defamation claim brought by writer E. Jean Carroll and a $464 million civil fraud verdict. In both cases, Trump obtained bonds that are currently under appeal.
