Megathread: Long-Concealed Records Show President Trump’s Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance

President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, the New York Times reported Sunday.<br><br>According to the newspaper, Trump also paid no federal income tax in 10 of the 15 years before his presidency.<br><br>The report was based on an analysis of more than two decades of tax payment data for Trump and his companies that showed the businesses were under financial pressure stemming from declining income and heavy borrowing.<br><br>The Times said that Trump also faces a potentially crippling IRS audit that focuses on the huge income tax refund he claimed and received after The Apprentice made him a TV star.<br><br>The Times emphasized that tax payments do not necessarily indicate how much Trump paid overall, since he claims to have prepaid his taxes through credits he accumulated when the real estate market crashed.<br><br>Trump’s firms have claimed a total of $1.4 billion in operating losses since 2000, including a huge loss of $700 million in 2009, and $250 million claimed in 2010, according to the Times.<br><br>Despite reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in income from his fame and his shows, Trump reduced his tax bill with huge donations and consulting fees and such heavy spending on haircuts, fragrances, and travel expenses, the Times reported.<br><br>Trump’s campaign issued a statement dismissing the report as “another tired, fake, and partisan hit piece.”<br><br>The statement claimed Trump had paid millions of dollars in taxes, created thousands of jobs, and “fought on behalf of America more than any president in decades.”<br><br>While Trump appears to have lost millions each year he has been in the White House, he has been able to offset his losses by cutting his tax bill with consulting-fee write-offs, the Times said.<br><br>The Times claimed that Trump reduced his taxable income by treating his daughter Ivanka as a consultant, and wrote off $26 million in consulting fees on various projects between 2010 and 2016.<br><br>Trump’s tax information, which he has refused to make public, was obtained by the Times after pursuing a long Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the president and his companies.<br><br>The Times described the tax records as “tax returns” but claimed it did not have Trump’s actual returns, only the figures contained in them.<br><br>The investigation also reveals that Trump has spent years conducting an extensive legal battle with the IRS to contest the legitimacy of an enormous tax refund he claimed and received after The Apprentice boosted his fortune.<br><br>According to the Times, Trump received a $72.9 million tax refund from the IRS after an audit that began before he took office.<br><br>Trump is disputing the tax bills he paid on that income as part of a battle that has been ongoing since a 2011 audit opened into his taxes covering 2005 through 2008, the newspaper reported.<br><br>Trump received the huge tax refund after he threatened an IRS appeal that could cost the government over $100 million, according to the Times.<br><br>The report described the battle as “perhaps the most audacious tax claim in modern history.”<br><br>The newspaper said the Trump’s lawyers claim his losses were big enough that he did not owe taxes in any of those years, and therefore the huge refund was warranted.<br><br>After conferring with the White House about its reporting, the Times said it was unable to determine how the battle between Trump and the IRS had been resolved.<br><br>The Times detailed how Trump used his presidency to benefit his businesses, including creating new revenue streams, stabilizing fragile finances, elevating his brand and luring new wealthy customers from around the world to his properties.<br><br>Trump rolled back a ban on federal officials staying at his properties and claimed he gave away all his profits from hotel guests and dining customers who have business in front of the government, but did not provide any records of that windfall or documentation of it, the Times claimed.<br><br>Businesses owned by Trump have claimed at least $5 million since 2015 in federal tax credits for historic preservation, the Times reported.<br><br>Trump has also given huge tax breaks to his private golf courses, the Times claimed.<br><br>Trump’s records show he paid $145,000 in taxes in India in 2017 and paid just $156,824 in taxes in the Philippines from 2013 to 2016, the Times reported.<br><br>He paid $15,598 in Panama, $2,492 in Canada, and $2,204 in the Dominican Republic in 2016 and 2017, according to the newspaper.<br><br>Trump’s records also showed he had invested in a hedge fund set up in the Cayman Islands to take advantage of the island nation’s status as a tax haven.<br><br>The Times claimed that the billionaire’s companies have been able to claim extensive foreign tax credits that have cut his U.S. tax bill dramatically.<br><br>The newspaper also found evidence that Trump had secretly received millions of dollars in cash through his partnership with a wealthy Indonesian family and its affiliates.<br><br>The Times reported that a skyscraper built as a partnership between Trump and the MNC Group in Jakarta, Indonesia, netted Trump at least $165.6 million in pre-tax profits.<br><br>Trump is also pushing the MNC Group for millions more from their cooperation agreement, the Times claimed.<br><br>The billionaire has also made more than $73.5 million in profit since 2016 from the Las Vegas hotel where he stayed when he visited the city for events in connection to his presidency, according to the Times.<br><br>The newspaper learned that Trump took in tens of millions of dollars of previously unreported cash from land sales over the last decade.<br><br>Trump’s firm earned $99.4 million in cash over 10 years from selling the mineral rights under a 218,000-acre ranch in West Texas, which is being developed into a large wind farm, the Times said.<br><br>Trump also secretly received millions from his blockbuster TV show “The Apprentice,” more than double the amount he previously disclosed, the Times reported.<br><br>The billionaire claimed that the show was a financial failure that had cost him between $50 million and $100 million when in fact he netted $60 million from it, the Times reported.<br><br>Trump also received $5 million for a single speech he made in the Ukraine in 2015, the Times reported.<br><br>The report also revealed that Trump had been pursuing a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow when he was bidding for the 2016 presidency.<br><br>The newspaper also found that Trump has been receiving millions of dollars of previously unreported income from big corporations and wealthy individuals through third-party deals.<br><br>For example, Walmart agreed to pay $30 million to sponsor the producer of The Apprentice and paid millions more to other companies owned by Trump, the Times said.<br><br>Trump’s firm also made $8.2 million from AT&T and another $3 million from the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, according to the Times.<br><br>Trump has been receiving big checks from wealthy individuals, including $5 million from a hedge fund manager and $2 million from the patriarch of the family that owns the Publix grocery store chain, the Times reported.<br><br>Trump has also received millions of dollars from selling his own private jet and from licensing his name to companies operating in such diverse industries as mattresses and toilet paper, the Times said.<br><br>The Times found that more than 500 companies have made large payments to the president and his businesses since he took office.<br><br>According to the report, Trump’s firm has claimed significant losses on the income generated from those deals, minimizing his tax liability.<br><br>The newspaper also found that Trump claimed a $427,000 tax write-off for what he described as consulting fees for hotel projects.<br><br>In most cases, the recipients of the consulting fees were Trump’s own daughter Ivanka, the Times reported.<br><br>The Times claimed it compared the consulting fees claimed by Trump to the money paid to his consulting firm TTT consulting LLC, a claimed created by Trump to pay his children consulting fees.<br><br>The newspaper claimed that firms owned by Trump paid TTT $26 million in consulting fees since 2010.<br><br>Trump paid TTT $2.2 million in consulting fees for hotel deals in Las Vegas and Chicago, the Times claimed.<br><br>The newspaper found that the protected consulting fees paid by Trump were used to pay his daughter Ivanka, whose occupation is a White House adviser.<br><br>The Times claimed it found evidence that in multiple instances, Trump paid his children millions of dollars in consulting fees and claimed the payments as business write-offs to minimize his tax.<br><br>The newspaper said there is no sign Ivanka Trump received regular payments from TTT Consulting.<br><br>It is unclear who got the $26 million paid to TTT, the Times claimed.<br><br>The report also found that Trump’s Virginia vineyard had claimed a tax credit of up to $1.1 million as part of a program meant to reward farmers who hire full-time farm workers.<br><br>Trump’s vineyard only claimed four employees for all of last year, the Times said.<br><br>A lawyer for the company said that the firm qualified for the tax credits because it had given money to charity and claimed the credit “for other employees who were not included in the picturesque business form.”<br><br>The report described the tax break as an “unusual windfall.”<br><br>The vineyard’s records indicate it was under financial strain, but was able to claim a $625,000 tax credit as part of a program meant to promote agricultural development and conservation, the Times said.<br><br>The newspaper claimed that Trump was able to claim millions in tax write-offs for donations of land and conservation easements, potentially allowing him to keep millions in profits that he had claimed on other deals.<br><br>The Times found that Trump has been pursuing an aggressive effort to use his presidency to enrich himself, his family, and his allies.<br><br>Trump has rolled back a ban on federal officials staying at his properties and claiming that he donates all his profits from hotel guests and dining customers who have business in front of the government, but did not provide any records of the money or documentation.<br><br>According to the Times, Trump’s big donors have received millions of dollars in government contracts and favors.<br><br>The newspaper claims that Trump has taken steps to slash his tax bill and maintain his secrecy around his finances.<br><br>After conferring with the White House about the reporting