{"id":25321,"date":"2022-12-22T12:37:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T12:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:05:00","slug":"irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An IRS policy governing the audits of tax returns filed by U.S. presidents is under new scrutiny after a report published by a congressional panel found the agency failed to perform the mandatory inspection<\/a> of Donald Trump\u2019s returns until Congress pressed for information about the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three-point policy<\/a> states that individual returns for the president and the vice president are subject to mandatory review, \u201cshould always be kept in an orange folder,\u201d should be kept from the eyes of IRS employees and \u201cshould be locked in a secure drawer or cabinet when the examiner or reviewer is away from the work area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report released Tuesday by the Democratic majority on the House Ways and Means Committee said the process, which dates to 1977, was \u201cdormant, at best\u201d during the early years of the Trump administration. Democrats in Congress are responding by introducing legislation that would codify the IRS policy into law with more stringent requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax experts say the failure to launch the audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS\u2019 capacity to examine high-income taxpayers\u2019 returns \u2014 and a reminder of Trump as a norm-defying president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Koskinen, who served as IRS commissioner during both the Obama and Trump administrations, said the policy has been out of the public eye because presidents have traditionally released their tax-return summaries to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt only became an issue with a president who refused to release his tax returns,\u201d Koskinen said. \u201cIf Trump had been releasing his returns, nobody would have raised this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s tax returns being handed over to Congress<\/a> recently is the culmination of a yearslong legal fight between Trump and Democratic lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Rosenthal, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said the IRS\u2019 failure to audit Trump is a showing that \u201cthe mandatory auditing program is broken, we cannot rely on the current system to fairly audit the president, and there\u2019s a general problem of the IRS auditing sophisticated taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenthal added: \u201cThis is a much larger problem than Donald Trump \u2014 yes, he makes bad things worse, but the situation was bad to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new $80 billion infusion of funds through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act is supposed to remedy the beleaguered agency\u2019s low staffing levels, outdated technology and host of other issues. Republicans who are poised to take control of the House in less than two weeks, however, have said they want to cut that funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday\u2019s committee report revealed that the IRS only began to audit Trump\u2019s 2016 tax filings on April 3, 2019, more than two years into Trump\u2019s presidency and just months after Democrats took control of the House. That date coincides with Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the panel chairman, asking the IRS for information related to Trump\u2019s tax returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report\u2019s findings prompted lawmakers to recommend a statutory requirement for the mandatory examination of the president\u2019s taxes, with \u201cdisclosure of certain audit information and related returns in a timely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he will work to pass the bill through the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber would \u201cmove swiftly\u201d to advance the legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue highlights frustration with the so-called tax gap, which is the difference between how much money is owed to the federal government and how much is paid. IRS data released<\/a> in October projects that for 2017 to 2019, the estimated average gross tax gap will be $540 billion per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in August<\/a>, and has repeated at various speaking engagements, that the new funds allocated by Congress would be used to increase audits on high-wealth individuals, firms and complex pass-throughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is challenging work that requires a team of sophisticated revenue agents in place to spend thousands of hours poring over complicated returns, and it is also work that has huge revenue potential,\u201d she told former IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an application of the IRS policy on mandatory presidential audits, well-trained agents, forensic experts, tax attorneys and others would be required to oversee a presidential audit as complicated as Trump\u2019s, which included hundreds of businesses, properties and complex business interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The congressional report<\/a> highlighted the lack of staffing and availability of experts to examine Trump\u2019s taxes. The report states that the IRS believed that accuracy of his filings was ensured because he had legal counsel and an accounting firm representing him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question of whether presidential tax documents should be disclosed is another matter of debate among tax experts and advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, said Congress would be setting a \u201cdangerous new precedent\u201d by releasing the presidential records. Koskinen said that \u201cit\u2019s a significant serious precedent for a committee to seek returns and then release them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see two big issues here \u2014 what is the IRS going to do to ensure presidents are audited regularly, and what\u2019s the rationale for releasing these returns,\u201d Koskinen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenthal said he thinks presidential returns should be publicly disclosed to ensure proper oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen this information is made public, the president is going to be more wary about cheating on their taxes and making them public \u2014 the results would put both the IRS and president on their best behavior,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts say the failure to launch an audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS\u2019 capacity to examine high-income taxpayers\u2019 returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,39,31,15,68,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4039],"class_list":["post-25321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-doj-fbi","category-home","category-management","category-leadership","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZH7ZMBO54JF65KYDFGCS5GQAAM","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nIRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Experts say the failure to launch an audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS\u2019 capacity to examine high-income taxpayers\u2019 returns.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Experts say the failure to launch an audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS\u2019 capacity to examine high-income taxpayers\u2019 returns.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Federal Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-22T12:37:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T05:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fatima Hussein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fatima Hussein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/#article\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"author\": {\n\t \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f1587e1f8c0d41f0683bf42b02602ad8\"\n\t },\n\t \"headline\": \"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2022-12-22T12:37:09+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T05:05:00+00:00\",\n\t \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"wordCount\": 898,\n\t \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg\",\n\t \"articleSection\": [\n\t \"Congress\",\n\t \"DOJ\\\/FBI\",\n\t \"Home\",\n\t \"Inside the Agencies\",\n\t \"Leadership\",\n\t \"Oversight\"\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/#respond\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight - Federal Times\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2022-12-22T12:37:09+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T05:05:00+00:00\",\n\t \"description\": \"Experts say the failure to launch an audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS\u2019 capacity to examine high-income taxpayers\u2019 returns.\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t },\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/22\\\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/\",\n\t \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"Inside the Agencies\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/\",\n\t \"ad_zone\": \"management\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 3,\n\t \"name\": \"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Federal Times\",\n\t \"description\": \"Federal Times\",\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t },\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#organization\",\n\t \"name\": \"Federal Times\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/\",\n\t \"logo\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-logo-white.png\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-logo-white.png\",\n\t \"caption\": \"Federal Times\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f1587e1f8c0d41f0683bf42b02602ad8\",\n\t \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t },\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/staging.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight - Federal Times","description":"Experts say the failure to launch an audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS\u2019 capacity to examine high-income taxpayers\u2019 returns.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight","og_description":"Experts say the failure to launch an audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS\u2019 capacity to examine high-income taxpayers\u2019 returns.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/","og_site_name":"Federal Times","article_published_time":"2022-12-22T12:37:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T05:05:00+00:00","author":"Fatima Hussein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fatima Hussein","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#\/schema\/person\/f1587e1f8c0d41f0683bf42b02602ad8"},"headline":"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight","datePublished":"2022-12-22T12:37:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T05:05:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/"},"wordCount":898,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg","articleSection":["Congress","DOJ\/FBI","Home","Inside the Agencies","Leadership","Oversight"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/","name":"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight - Federal Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-22T12:37:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T05:05:00+00:00","description":"Experts say the failure to launch an audit earlier is emblematic of a larger problem regarding the IRS\u2019 capacity to examine high-income taxpayers\u2019 returns.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2022\/12\/22\/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Inside the Agencies","item":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/","ad_zone":"management"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"IRS mandatory presidential audit policy goes under spotlight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/","name":"Federal Times","description":"Federal Times","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#organization","name":"Federal Times","url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/federal-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/federal-logo-white.png","caption":"Federal Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#\/schema\/person\/f1587e1f8c0d41f0683bf42b02602ad8","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Federal Times","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635860369156691568-irs-gettyjpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25333,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25321\/revisions\/25333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25321"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=25321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}