HILL TAX BRIEFING: How the Presidential Audit Program Failed

A dormant process and a lack of manpower to vet former President Donald Trump’s monster tax return raises new questions about the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to audit presidential tax returns.

The House Ways and Means Committee’s report reveals the IRS didn’t begin an audit of Trump’s taxes until the committee inquired about them back in 2019, and that audits were unfinished at the end of Trump’s presidency.

“This is really standard,” said Francine J. Lipman, a tax law professor at William S. Boyd School of Law. “The fact that it didn’t happen is really concerning.”

In one internal memo ...