The US Justice Department bans review of old tax returns of Trump and his family

The administration of the US President Donald Trump has reached an agreement with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that effectively prohibits the audit of tax returns of Trump and his family members for past years.

This is reported by CNN.

The decision was made to settle Trumpʼs lawsuit against IRS, which the president accused of leaking his tax returns to the media during his first term in 2016. He and his family later sought $10 billion in damages.

On Monday, May 18, the US Department of Justice announced the creation of a $1.8 billion fund. The money is to be paid to Trump supporters who claimed that they were illegally persecuted under the previous government. Trump himself will not be given any money — only a formal apology for the leak.

It is expected that payments may also be received by Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, after Joe Biden won the election. Five people died in the riots, including a police officer.

The Justice Department later released another document, signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch, stating that the US government will no longer have the right to pursue tax claims against Trump and his family for past years. However, this does not apply to future returns.

• Before the 2016 election, Trump refused to release his tax returns, saying they were under audit. He did the same before the 2020 election, becoming the first US presidential candidate in nearly 50 years not to release them.
• In September 2020, a few weeks before the election, The New York Times published an investigation that found that Trump paid only $750 in federal taxes in the year he won the election and had not paid taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years. In 2022, Trump himself released his tax returns.

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