Congressional Access to the President’s Federal Tax Returns

"The Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee is reportedly preparing to send a request to the Treasury Department’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to obtain President Trump’s federal tax returns. This request appears prompted by the President’s departure from the past practice of sitting presidents and presidential candidates voluntarily disclosing their recent tax returns. This Sidebar analyzes the ability of a congressional committee to obtain the President’s tax returns under provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC); whether the President or the Treasury Secretary might have a legal basis for denying a committee request for the returns; and, if a committee successfully acquires the returns, whether those returns legally could be disclosed to the public.

Congressional Committee Authority to Obtain Tax Returns

 In 1976, Congress amended Section 6103 of the IRC to establish that federal tax return information is confidential by default unless a statute expressly authorizes disclosure. Congress made these changes in part to curtail the President’s authority to acquire tax return information in response to revelations that President Nixon sought to use tax return information for improper purposes. Specifically, Section 6103(a) states that individual and business tax returns, and the information in tax returns, are confidential, and officers or employees of the federal government, among others, may not disseminate those returns or the Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov LSB10275 Congressional Research Service 2 information therein for unauthorized purposes without the taxpayer’s consent. Section 6103(b)2)(A) defines “return information” to include, among other things, “a taxpayer’s identity, the nature, source, or amount of his income, payments, receipts, deductions, exemptions, credits, assets, liabilities, net worth, . . . or tax payment.” This policy is bolstered by a series of statutes providing for criminal penalties and authorizing the taxpayer to bring a civil action for damages for unauthorized disclosures of return information. However, Congress has established a number of exceptions to this general proscription against disclosing taxpayer information, including certain disclosures for use in legitimate tax administration, criminal proceedings, audits conducted by the Government Accountability Office, and child support enforcement activities..."
President's tax returns