Former President Donald Trump is caught up in a tax storm, with an IRS audit suggesting he could owe north of $100 million. This audit, digging into the finances of Trump's Chicago Trump Tower, alleges that the ex-commander-in-chief claimed the same losses twice to snag illicit tax breaks, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
In a real estate maneuver that the IRS is now calling into question, Trump apparently wrote off a whopping $651 million in losses on the tower in 2008, citing the property as "worthless" during the height of the Great Recession.
Adding more complexity to the audit squabble, in 2010, Trump's move to shuffle the company that owned the tower into a new partnership led to a claim of $168 million in additional losses. These losses were strung out over the following decade, according to the joint investigation by The New York Times and ProPublica. The current status of the IRS' probe into Trump's Chicago dealings is wrapped in mystery. However, the feds could be looking to claw back over $100 million, piled on with interest and potential penalties.
Trump's son, Eric Trump, defended the organization's position, telling ProPublica, "This matter was settled years ago, only to be brought back to life once my father ran for office. We are confident in our position, which is supported by opinion letters from various tax experts, including the former general counsel of the IRS." Meanwhile, federal privacy laws muzzle the IRS from speaking out on the matter.
Last year saw Trump snag a $1 million property tax refund after an Illinois appellate court deemed Trump Tower was previously over-assessed. The site of Trump Tower, which replaced the Chicago Sun-Times building after Trump's acquisition in 2001, sits as a monument to Trump's grand ambitions despite controversies. Escalating during his presidency, this IRS fight accentuates over a decade of debated financial moves, as reported by The Seattle Times.
While this tax tussle continues, Trump has repeatedly found himself under scrutiny for his opaque tax records and unconventional accounting practices. Tax experts consulted during the ProPublica and The New York Times investigations criticize Trump's handling of the Chicago Tower's finances as highly aggressive and legally dubious, likely to fail under the IRS's examination. One professor of law, Walter Schwidetzky, bluntly expressed his opinion to The Seattle Times on the matter: "I think he ripped off the tax system."
The saga rolls on, with details emerging from various sources, including the New York attorney general's suit filings against Trump and an IRS internal memo. All eyes will be on the outcome of this financial faceoff, which has implications extending far beyond Trump Tower's Chicago silhouette.
