With Trump's Deal, a Possible $100 Million I.R.S. Penalty Melts Away

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/us/politics/trump-settlement-irs.html

With Trump’s Deal, a Possible $100 Million I.R.S. Penalty Melts Away
The tax service argued that the Trump Organization tried to claim the same losses twice. The president said the audit was a “disgrace.”
By Russ Buettner
Published May 19, 2026 Updated May 20, 2026, 8:40 a.m. ET

A tax audit that President Trump has been fighting since his peak earning days as a television celebrity was most likely wiped away in this week’s agreement with the Justice and Treasury Departments.

The agreement, part of a resolution to an unusual lawsuit that Mr. Trump and his sons filed against the Internal Revenue Service, frees the president from a potential adverse ruling that could have cost him more than $100 million, according to an analysis of his tax returns in 2020 by The New York Times.

Two years ago, Mr. Trump’s middle son, Eric Trump, acknowledged to The Times that the audit remained active. During his father’s first term in office, the matter was put on hold, records obtained by The Times showed.

The audit dated back to a $72.9 million tax refund that Mr. Trump claimed, and received, starting in about 2010. The total reflected all the federal income tax he had paid, plus interest, for 2005 through 2008, his greatest earning years as the star of his reality show, “The Apprentice.”

Mr. Trump justified the refund claim by declaring huge business losses — a total of $1.4 billion from his core businesses for 2008 and 2009 — that tax laws had prevented him from using in prior years, The Times previously reported.

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