Justice Department says IRS must provide Trump’s tax returns to Congress

The income tax returns of former President Donald Trump must be released by the IRS to Congress, the Department of Justice said Friday.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said the Internal Revenue Service must give the documents to the House Committee on Ways and Means because the lawmakers had a legitimate legislative reason for reviewing them.

Under the Trump administration, the office agreed with the IRS when it declined to release the returns in 2019.

“The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has invoked sufficient reasons for requesting the former president’s tax information,” the Office of Legal Counsel said in a memo ((Slip Opinion) dated Friday. “Treasury must furnish the information to the committee.”

Unlike other recent presidents, Trump declined to disclose any tax information since announcing his candidacy for the presidency in mid-2015.

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