Donald Trump Tax Records Show He Could Have Avoided Taxes for Nearly Two Decades, The Times Found [merged]

[Dashinka 24,512]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?_r=0

Wow! In my 41 year career with the IRS I never saw anybody claim such a huge loss. What a successful business man.

I have an IRS question. Is it legal to publish someone's taxes without their consent?

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

I have an IRS question. Is it legal to publish someone's taxes without their consent?

Look at pages 15 and 16 of the IRS publication linked below:

IRS Publication 4557 - Safeguarding Taxpayer Data

[TBoneTX 45,308]

People might tend to overlook that these annual tax returns are probably prepared by a top CPA firm that would be assiduous about following existing tax laws and regulations. It's not as though the filer himself sat down, decided to claim mega-losses, and concocted same while sitting at his kitchen table with receipts spread all over the place.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Corporate welfare. There you have it.

[Rob L 3,811]

I have an IRS question. Is it legal to publish someone's taxes without their consent?

The times is using the Pentagon Papers defense

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/02/the-new-york-times-risked-legal-trouble-to-publish-donald-trumps-tax-return/

Dean Baquet wasn't bluffing.

The New York Times executive editor said during a visit to Harvard in September that he would risk jail to publish Donald Trump's tax returns. He made good on his word Saturday night when the Times published Trump tax documents from 1995, which show the Republican presidential nominee claimed losses of $916 million that year — enough to avoid paying federal income taxes for as many as 18 years.

Federal law makes it illegal to publish an unauthorized tax return or "return information":

It shall be unlawful for any person to whom any return or return information (as defined in section 6103(b)) is disclosed in a manner unauthorized by this title thereafter willfully to print or publish in any manner not provided by law any such return or return information. Any violation of this paragraph shall be a felony punishable by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

The term "return information" covers not only return documents themselves but also the "amount of his income, payments, receipts, deductions, exemptions, credits, assets, liabilities, net worth, tax liability, tax withheld, deficiencies, overassessments or tax payments."

The Times published the first page of Trump's 1995 New York state resident income tax return, the first page of his New Jersey nonresident tax return and the first page of his Connecticut nonresident tax return.

Under New York law, it is unlawful "to divulge or make known in any manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any report or return." Non-government employees face fines of as much as $10,000 and imprisonment for as long as one year.

In New Jersey, "any person ... divulging, disclosing or using [tax] information shall be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree," which carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.

Connecticut's law against disclosure of tax information is more narrowly worded and, as the Hartford Courant reported, appears not to apply to the Times.

Baquet said during a panel discussion at Harvard that if the Times' lawyers advised him not to publish Trump tax returns, he would argue that such information is vital to the public interest because the real estate mogul's "whole campaign is built on his success as a businessman and his wealth."

Two weeks later, Times reporter Susanne Craig found tax documents in her mailbox.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Rob L

[Dashinka 24,512]

Look at pages 15 and 16 of the IRS publication linked below:

IRS Publication 4557 - Safeguarding Taxpayer Data

Thanks.

[Jacque67 7,328]

https://www.rawstory.com/2016/10/desperate-fox-host-neil-cavuto-reduced-to-asking-scott-baio-for-expert-analysis-of-trumps-taxes/

Next we'll have the backstreet boys explaining the inner workings of Trump's foundation. Lolz!!!!!

[Rob L 3,811]

https://www.rawstory.com/2016/10/desperate-fox-host-neil-cavuto-reduced-to-asking-scott-baio-for-expert-analysis-of-trumps-taxes/

Next we'll have the backstreet boys explaining the inner workings of Trump's foundation. Lolz!!!!!

I thought Cavuto was their wall street finance guru....guess every tax accountant with access to Skype was busy filling quarterly extensions. In other news Leather Tuscadero will be representing the Clinton Campaign if any Federal Reserve questions come up.

[floridadave 195]

Art of the Steal: This Is How Trump Lost $916M and Avoided Tax

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

10.03.16 11:41 AM ET

Excerpt:

Trump, the only major-party presidential nominee in four decades to keep all his tax returns secret, insists “there’s nothing to learn from them.”

Yet in one day I figured out how Trump’s advisers almost certainly arranged the massive tax losses, skipped out on a massive income-tax bill, and then fashioned a loophole with more valuable tax benefits than the already liberal tax breaks Congress gives big real-estate owners while sticking others with the bill.

Trump dumped the real costs of all this on investors who saw gold in his brand name, but who lost everything even as he was paid tens of millions of tax-free dollars.

Full story:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/03/art-of-the-steal-this-is-how-trump-lost-916m-and-avoided-tax.html

[TBoneTX 45,308]

Similar-themed threads have been merged.

[Rob L 3,811]

Look at pages 15 and 16 of the IRS publication linked below:

IRS Publication 4557 - Safeguarding Taxpayer Data

I have an IRS question. Is it legal to publish someone's taxes without their consent?

Here is the partial answer to your question:

The form that was mailed to the NY Times is a New York State tax return and not a federal return.

[Dashinka 24,512]

Here is the partial answer to your question:

The form that was mailed to the NY Times is a New York State tax return and not a federal return.

Does NY have similar laws protecting privacy? It looks like they do.

http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/shldno1.html

Personally, I think it is deplorable that a self described respected news organization would flaunt personal privacy laws like they did. If someone hacks into Hillary's medical records from the last 10-20 years and send these to the NYTimes would they publish them, or claim personal privacy? The argument that this information was vital to public interest is a non-starter as voters can make the decision regardless of this information.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Bill & Katya

[Teddy B 17,252]

A genius!

Took a small $1M loan from his daddy and turned it into a $916M loss!

There are only a select few people who could accomplish such a feat, he truly is a business mogul.

[Rob L 3,811]

There are only a select few people who could accomplish such a feat, he truly is a business mogul.

True Genius

[Jacque67 7,328]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/10/05/ex-trump-accountant-jack-mitnick-he-s-no-tax-genius.html

Jack for president!!!