[ad_1]
Although President Trump insists that he has done nothing wrong with taxes, experts say he could be ordered to pay fines of several dozen Millions of dollars in fines if the state and federal authorities backed up a New York Times report that he and his family had cheated the IRS decades ago.
The limitation period for bringing criminal proceedings has long since expired, but civil proceedings do not provide for any such limitation and monetary penalties could be enormous. The charges of civil fraud for intentional underpayment of taxes, as the Trump family claims in the Times, could include a fine of up to 75% of unpaid federal taxes and double the unpaid amount of the state, experts said.
The sanctions "could be substantial, and if the allegations are proven in court, they should be," said Norman Eisen, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and former senior ethics counselor of the United States. Obama administration.
The New York Tax Department said it was studying the Times' 15,000-word report and "vigorously pursuing all the appropriate investigative leads." New York City has also announced plans to investigate. A spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service declined to comment.
Trump tweeted that the newspaper had made "a very old, boring and often told movie".
• NewsCut: There is probably no price to pay for Donald Trump's fraud
The White House has described the report as "the Trump family's trumped attack by the bankrupt New York Times," but spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the newspaper was right: Trump's father had not only treated his son but praised him. saying "everything he touched turned into gold".
A Trump lawyer, Charles J. Harder, told The Times that there was no "fraud or tax evasion" and that some parts of the report were "extremely inaccurate".
The Times said Trump had received at least $ 413 million from his father over the decades, largely thanks to dubious tax maneuvers, including outright fraud. The report contradicts Trump's portrayal as a self-proclaimed billionaire who started with a loan of only one million dollars from his father.
Tax law experts have expressed skepticism that the IRS would organize any civil investigation. The main reason, they say, is that the Times' account indicates that IRS officials have already conducted extensive audits of the estate left behind by Trump's parents.
"This ship sailed," said Mark W. Everson, IRS commissioner during the second term of President George W. Bush, and vice president of AlliantGroup, a corporate tax advisory firm. based in Houston. He added: "I would be worried if the service had to come back as far back in time, since it could only do so thanks to the person's current position."
In addition to maneuvering to avoid inheritance taxes, The Times announced that his father, Fred Trump, paid no federal tax on donations on seven buildings transferred to Donald Trump and his siblings.
This opens another avenue of investigation, said Beth Shapiro Kaufman, tax attorney at Caplin & Drysdale and former Treasury official.
There is generally a three-year limitation period for grant applications made by the federal government, but this does not apply when a gift is made without having been reported to the government. And if the donor is deceased, the IRS will be able to attack the recipient of the donation for the unpaid taxes, Kaufman said.
In New York, the tax authorities had already investigated whether Trump or its charitable foundation had misrepresented their tax obligations. State law would allow them to seek civil penalties if they can show a person who deliberately sought to evade taxes even decades ago. Those who lose such cases are often forced to pay their arrears with penalties.
In August, the state had summoned Trump's former attorney and "repairman", Michael Cohen, as part of the investigation.
The State's investigation follows the prosecution of Democratic Attorney General Barbara Underwood alleging that Trump had illegally used his Trump Foundation to settle legal disputes, help his campaign in the presidency and cover his personal and professional expenses , including the purchase of a $ 10,000 portrait of himself.
Eisen said that if the Democrats win the House of Representatives in November, they will have the investigative power and the subpoena power to search Trump's tax records and see if the tax schemes alleged by The Times they were prosecuted.
Former Deputy Commissioner of the IRS, Mark E. Matthews, warned that the IRS would not be forced to conduct an investigation if Congress revealed new evidence of incessant fiscal maneuvers, but said Added: "The agency knows where its bread is buttered.On a full committee report containing new evidence, someone at the IRS will look closely, but there is no guarantee that they would go beyond an examination. "
The statute of limitations provided for by the Federal Tax Code for criminal cases generally does not last more than six years, legal experts said. In order to initiate criminal prosecution, investigators should find a plot of tax evasion that would extend into the last few years, they said.
Building such a case – similar to accusations that former presidential campaigner Trump Paul Manafort pleaded guilty last month – would require overwhelming recent evidence, backed up by new documents and strong insider testimonials from Trump, said the experts.
Source link
