Trump's tax declaration with the Democrats: what's going on now?

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But, although the deadline is set for Wednesday, the deadline for tax returns is expected to be much longer, as both parties are integrating.

What happens next is unclear, although the legal position on both sides suggests that a legal battle may be on the horizon. Before that, however, expect that the team behind the president and the team behind Neal will produce a lot of paperwork explaining why they are right and that the other is wrong.

Trump has been clear, he does not intend to make this fight easy. On Friday, his lawyers sent a letter to the Treasury Department's lawyer dismissing the tax filing request as a politically-motivated lawsuit, claiming that "Ways and Means has no legitimate purpose for a committee of ask the tax returns or return information from the chair.Committee has jurisdiction over taxes, it does not have the power to conduct its own review of individual taxpayers. "

"The idea that you can use the IRS as a political weapon is incorrect from the point of view of the law and the constitution," said Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow on Sunday. "This Week" show of the ABC channel. "We should not be in a situation where personal tax returns are used for political purposes, which prevents another party from doing the same thing in passing."

But Neal – who has spent months preparing a record to get Trump's tax returns – will not take no for an answer. Using a little-known provision in the tax code, the Massachusetts Democrat asks for tax returns under 6103, a law that allows the House committee chair ways to request tax information from individuals. Neal and the Democrats argued that the law clearly stipulated that if the president asked for information, the secretary of the treasury would "provide it".

"It was a very reasonable approach," Neal told reporters last week. "We wanted to make sure that the file we developed was a matter for review by the courts."

Read: Trump's lawyers send a letter to the Treasury Department to pressure their tax return application

He added that if the IRS still does not respond, they will decide next steps, but he assured us "that there will surely be one."

A process assistant told CNN that Neal should send at least one follow-up letter, reiterating his request perhaps even more, but that later steps are still under discussion. Tax law experts are divided on whether or not Neal would issue a subpoena in addition to its application or whether the authority 6103 involves the power to receive the information itself. In this case, the question is whether a summons to appear effectively undermines the authority of the president.

"A subpoena is a tactical decision and it is not necessary," said Andy Wright, former assistant to President Barack Obama.

Before the request was made last week, the committee's Liberals had pushed Neal more and more publicly to demand Trump's return, but Neal acted on his own schedule, aware of the political storm that would ensue after sending his official letter.

Trump's lawyers have also been preparing for the anticipated demand, a source close to Trump's legal team told CNN.

"We have been looking at this issue for several months," said the source.

Why Americans may never see Trump's tax returns

The legal road ahead is long. The law of the 1920s has not been tested in court and vast questions remain as to the extent of the authority of the Congress President. While 6103 requests are constantly made for research compilation, the personal tax return application as personal as that of the president has raised questions. And, if Neal receives the returns, there are questions about how much he could publicly share.

Even though Neal obtained Trump's tax returns and other tax information requested after a protracted legal battle, the public will still not see them automatically. Instead, the president would obtain the statements and, by law, he alone would be able to consult them, unless he appoints others to consult them. Designated persons could include members of the committee or members of the Joint Committee on Taxation. Once these people have the power to consult tax information, they are subject to harsh penalties for disclosure of information. This fine is $ 250,000 fine and five years in prison per offense. It's serious.

If Neal wanted to make the statements public – and Neal did not say what he was going to do with the statements if he got them – there is a process. Neal would put the committee in private session and then the committee would vote.

It would be a rare event. The last time Congress made the decision to disclose private tax information, it was during the battle to find out if the IRS was discriminating against conservative groups. Then the vote was bipartite. The publication of Trump's tax information would likely be divided into several parts.

What would even show the returns?

There are always real questions about how Trump's tax returns would be even information. Six years of returns, including two while Trump was president, will paint a picture, but not necessarily exhaustive. That is why, while Neal is filing tax returns, he also asks for "all administrative files", including "working papers, affidavits, etc.".

Tax returns can not tell the committee everything, but the administrative files could be more revealing, including spreadsheets and audit reports. This is where the committee really learns about the operation of the presidential audit process and whether Trump was audited as a private citizen.

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