The latest round of payments is part of the Biden administration’s efforts under the American Rescue Plan to deliver $1,400 to each eligible adult and child. The IRS on June 9 said it has now delivered more than 169 million payments worth $395 billion, with the last batch of checks amounting to a total of $4.2 billion.

Long wait for some

While the latest stimulus payments began hitting bank accounts in March, some people have had to wait weeks or months for their checks. That’s because the IRS prioritized sending checks to people who had already filed their 2019 or 2020 tax returns, since the agency was able to quickly verify eligibility based on income and also determine where to mail or direct deposit the checks.

But some others, such as those who aren’t required to file tax returns or who claimed adjustments on their payments, have had to wait for the IRS to process their payments.

Among the 2.3 million payments are 900,000 checks sent to people who recently filed a tax return and for whom the tax agency didn’t previously have information to issue the money. And another 1.1 million payments were for plus-up adjustments for people who qualified for bigger checks based on recently processed 2020 tax returns, the IRS said.

The tax agency said about 1.2 million payments were made via direct deposit, while the remaining 1.1 million were sent through the mail as paper checks.

The post IRS now sending millions more additional stimulus checks first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin again delayed a decision on whether to turn over President Trump’s tax returns to Congress, telling House lawmakers late Tuesday that the Treasury and Justice Departments needed until May 6 to assess the legality of the “unprecedented” request.

In a letter to Representative Richard E. Neal, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Mnuchin said that the Treasury Department “cannot act upon your request unless and until it is determined to be consistent with law.” Mr. Mnuchin said the department expected to make a final decision by May 6 “after receiving the Justice Department’s legal conclusions.”

Earlier Tuesday, Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman, signaled that Mr. Trump was girding for a protracted fight over his tax returns.

“As I understand it, the president is pretty clear, once he’s out of audit, he’ll think about doing it, but he is not inclined to do so at this time,” Mr. Gidley said on Fox News.

Mr. Trump has used the excuse of an Internal Revenue Service audit since the 2016 presidential campaign as a reason not to release his tax records, though no law prevents a taxpayer from releasing returns while under audit.

This month, Mr. Neal formally requested from the Internal Revenue Service six years’ worth of the president’s personal and business tax returns. The Treasury Department, which oversees the I.R.S., missed the first deadline to provide the returns, and Mr. Mnuchin previously told Mr. Neal in a letter that he needed more time to study the lawfulness of the request.

Mr. Mnuchin, in his most recent letter, appeared to be laying the groundwork for the legal rationale to deny the request, listing several “legal concerns” that have prompted the Treasury Department to consult with the Justice Department. Those included “constitutional limits” on gaining access to private tax returns and the “asserted purpose” for seeking the records.

Mr. Mnuchin made the argument that Mr. Neal’s request represented “exposure for the sake of exposure” of Mr. Trump’s tax returns and said it was different than traditional requests for taxpayer information, which tend to be used for statistical purposes to aid legislation. An appendix to the letter listed numerous examples of Mr. Neal and other Democrats calling for Mr. Trump’s tax returns to be made public.

Mr. Neal issued a terse statement on Tuesday but did not indicate his next move, which could include a subpoena or a lawsuit. The matter could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.

“This afternoon, Secretary Mnuchin notified me that once again, the I.R.S. will miss the deadline,” he said. “I plan to consult with counsel about my next steps.”

But other Democratic lawmakers said they were prepared to escalate things quickly.

“They don’t get to pick and choose the laws with which they will comply,” said Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas. “After so much of their double talk, prompt action must be taken to secure what they have wrongfully refused.”

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said that Treasury’s lack of cooperation was an example of the Trump administration’s “lawlessness.”

“Secretary Mnuchin and the White House have blatantly interfered with the I.R.S.’s obligation to provide the president’s tax returns, and action is needed to force this administration to follow the law,” Mr. Wyden said.

Mr. Neal has largely dismissed Mr. Mnuchin’s arguments that the request could violate taxpayer privacy and that it was being done for political purposes, saying that they lacked merit. He gave the Treasury Department until Tuesday to comply and said that failing to do so would be “interpreted as a denial of my request.”

In his letter, Mr. Mnuchin said that the delay was not a failure to comply with the request and that portraying it as such would be “a misinterpretation.”

“The committee’s request has not been denied or granted at this time,” he said.

Last week, in a sign of how much attention Mr. Trump is paying to the proceedings, his personal lawyer urged the Treasury Department not to release the president’s tax returns and accused Democratic lawmakers of having a “radical view of unchecked congressional power.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/us/politics/trump-taxes.html

The post Trump Tax Returns Won’t Be Released Until May 6 After Another Deadline Is Missed first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to meet a final congressional deadline on Tuesday for turning over President Donald Trump’s tax returns to lawmakers, setting the stage for a possible court battle between Congress and the administration.

The outcome, which was widely expected, could prompt House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal to subpoena Trump’s tax records as the opening salvo to a legal fight that may ultimately have to be settled by the US Supreme Court.

Neal set a final 5 p.m. (2100 GMT) deadline for the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury to provide six years of Trump’s individual and business tax records. But the deadline passed without the panel receiving the documents.

After the deadline lapsed, Mnuchin released a letter to Neal in which he pledged to make “a final decision” on whether to provide Trump’s tax records by May 6. It was the second time the administration had missed a House deadline for the tax returns since Neal requested them on April 3.

“Secretary Mnuchin notified me that once again, the IRS will miss the deadline for my … request. I plan to consult with counsel about my next steps,” Neal said in a statement.

In his letter, Mnuchin said he was still consulting with the Justice Department about Neal’s request, which he termed “unprecedented.”

“The department cannot act upon your request unless and until it is determined to be consistent with the law,” the Treasury secretary told Neal.

PressTV-White House: Dems won’t see Trump tax returns ‘ever’

The White House’s acting chief of staff says Donald Trump can keep withholding his tax returns.

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Democrats want Trump’s returns as part of their investigations of possible conflicts of interest posed by his continued ownership of extensive business interests, even as he serves the public as president.

Republicans have condemned the request as a political “fishing expedition” by Democrats.

Trump broke with a decades-old precedent by refusing to release his tax returns as a presidential candidate in 2016 or since being elected, saying he could not do so while his taxes were being audited.

But his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a House panel in February that he did not believe Trump’s taxes were under audit. Cohen said the president feared that releasing his returns could lead to an audit and IRS tax penalties.

‘Not up to the president’

Earlier on Tuesday, the White House said Trump was unlikely to hand over his tax returns.

“As I understand it, the president’s pretty clear: Once he’s out of audit, he’ll think about doing it, but he’s not inclined to do so at this time,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told Fox News in an interview.

“This is not up to the president. We did not ask him,” said a Democratic committee aide, who cited a law saying the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” taxpayer data upon request from an authorized lawmaker.

Neal informed IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig earlier this month that failure to comply with the deadline would be viewed as a denial.

Legal experts said House Democrats could vote to hold Mnuchin or Rettig in contempt of Congress if they ignored a subpoena, as a pretext to suing in federal court to obtain Trump’s returns. Experts say administration officials could ultimately risk financial penalties and even jail time by defying the committee.

As Ways and Means chairman, Neal is the only lawmaker in the House of Representatives authorized to request taxpayer information under federal law. Democrats say they are confident of succeeding in any legal fight over Trump’s tax returns.

Trump has no plans to release tax returns

US President Donald Trump has no plans to release tax returns despite a recent investigation by the New York Times.

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“Secretary Mnuchin is again choosing to violate the law to keep Trump’s records hidden away. This administration’s contempt for rule of law is without peer,” Representative Bill Pascrell, who has been leading the Democratic push for Trump’s tax records, said in a statement on Twitter.

“I stand beside @RepRichardNeal as he continues the crusade to impose plain oversight on this corrupt administration.”

Despite the law’s clarity, Democrats have long acknowledged that the effort would likely result in a legal battle that could end up with the Supreme Court.

“If the IRS does not comply with the request, it is likely that Chairman Neal will subpoena the returns,” Representative Judy Chu, a Democratic member of the Ways and Means Committee, told Reuters.

“If they do not comply with that (subpoena), a legal battle will begin to defend the right of oversight in Congress,” she said.

(Source: Reuters)

Source: https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/04/24/594203/US-Treasury-Steven-Mnuchin-congressional-deadline-Donald-Trump-tax-returns-

The post US Treasury misses congressional deadline to hand over Trump tax returns first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.