Key tip on Trump family tax schemes and wealth came from old federal filing by president's sister

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Key tip on Trump family tax schemes and wealth came from old federal filing by president's sister

Saturday, October 06, 2018

Trump family siblings_Trump campaign photo

The Trump children gathered for this undated family photo. They are, from left, Robert Trump, Elizabeth Trump Grau, Fred Trump Jr., Donald Trump and Maryanne Trump Barry. A piece of information filed years ago during Barry's judicial confirmation hearing led to a New York Times' exposé on the family's wealth and tax tactics. (Donald J. Trump presidential campaign photo)

Talk about an awkward Thanksgiving. It seems that Donald J. Trump's oldest sister is how The New York Times got the inside info on the Trump family fortune and taxes.

You know of the story even if you haven't yet read all 14,000 or so words.

An investigation by the newspaper revealed that Trump isn't quite the self-made billionaire he's always claimed. Instead, according to the NYTimes report, Trump received from his father's real estate empire an amount that today would be worth least $413 million.

Tax ties to wealth: Even more intriguing are the reporters' findings that much of the money bequeathed to Trump was accumulated through dubious tax schemes in which the current president participated during the 1990s. Sometimes those tax machinations included, according to the Times, instances of outright fraud.

The report from the Big Apple's newspaper of record — Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father — and ancillary stories, like the Cliff Notes piece highlighting the 11 takeaways from the investigation into Trump's wealth, get side shout outs this weekend.

But today's main Saturday Shout Out goes to the Times Insider piece on how a trio of intrepid journalists uncovered the original source of the 45's wealth.

Sure, it took the three reporters — David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner — more than a year to dig through 100,000-plus pages of documents and chase down key sources familiar with Fred Trump, Donald's dad, and his empire.

Thanks, sis: But the big break came from Googling something. Specifically, in April 2017 Craig used the online search engine to find more on the arcane term "mortgage receivable," which the Trumps used to describe the mortgages from the children to Fred.

That led Craig to a disclosure form that the president's sister Maryanne Trump Barry had filed in connection with the Senate hearing to confirm her appointment as judge to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

That unredacted document noted a $1 million contribution from an obscure family-owned company, All County Building Supply & Maintenance.

I'll let you read the tax trail details in the Times Insider piece, but basically the reporters found, thanks to that bit of info from 45's sister, that the Trump siblings received millions in untaxed gifts from their father, skirting a then 55 percent tax on gifts over a certain value that would have cut the total significantly.

Like I said, any extended Trump Turkey Day gathering this year could be extremely uncomfortable.

You also might find these items of interest:

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Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2018 at 02:11 PM in Estate tax, Family, Politics, Rich Wealthy, Shout Out, Tax evasion, Tax fraud, Taxes | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Donald J. Trump, Maryanne Trump Barry, tax, tax avoidance, tax evasion, taxes, Trump family wealth New York Times expose, Trump taxes

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Weekly Tax Tip

Federal and state tax breaks for military members — A double tax tip this Pearl Harbor Day: U.S. service personnel have long contributed, sometimes with their lives, to the welfare of our nation. It's only fitting that these military men and women are provided some special tax considerations at various government levels. (Dec. 7, 2018)
Check out all the latest post-Tax Day tax advice in the 2018 edition of Weekly Tax Tips. Many of the once-a-week tax tips will focus on planning moves to cut your 2017 tax bill. If, however, you're working on a filing extension for your 2016 return, you can get a refresher of this year's Daily Tax Tips at their respective filing season monthly pages: January, February, March and April.

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Kay Bell — Native Texan (the blog title totally makes sense now, right?). Professional journalist. Tax geek.

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Tax Year 2018 Countdown
It's over! The final 2017 tax year extended filing deadline has passed, unless you get more time because your filing was affected by a natural disaster like Hurricanes Florence and Michael. For most of us, that means it's time to focus on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changes and the new (and old) year-end moves we need to make to reduce our already accruing 2018 tax bill. Most of the tax actions must be made by Dec. 31, which this year also is the last business day of the year. This countdown clock will make sure you don't miss these crucial tax deadlines.
Note: I'm in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.

Time for Tax Tasks

Ho, Ho, Ho! You better watch out.
You better not cry. But you better make some year-end tax moves this December or April 15 could turn out to be the tax equivalent of Santa Claus putting coal in your stocking!

Click image to watch
Santa's delivery route.
OK, St. Nick can't deliver a festively wrapped tax return for you (unless he's even more magical than I think!) next year, but he does have a tax connection. His tracking of naughty and nice boys and girls basically is the same method that the Internal Revenue Service uses. That's why we all need to be nice, especially to ourselves, in this final month of the year by making some important tax-saving moves.

Dec. 1: We've been living with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) for 11 months, but some of the provisions are still unclear and many more are confusing. That's why now is the time to find a tax preparer who can help ensure you get the most out of or don't stumble over the TCJA changes. By picking the perfect tax pro before the coming tax-filing season rush, your adviser can help make sure don't miss any year-end deadlines that could affect your final tax bill.

Dec. 3: Did you get a part-time seasonal job to earn extra cash for the holidays? If you're paid as a contractor instead of as an employee, remember that you'll be responsible for income taxes due on the money, as well as any self-employment taxes. The same tax considerations also apply if you're part of the gig economy, but you'll also want to check out ways to maximize your side hustle earnings.

Dec. 7: Medical itemized deductions survived the TCJA changes, but there's still a limit on how much you can claim on Schedule A. The good news is that the threshold for the 2018 tax year still is 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income.

Dec. 10: Does your job, either full-time or seasonal, include tips? If so and you received at least $20 in gratuities in November, use Form 4070 to report them today to your employer.

Click image
for a tip calculator.

And don't forget to include the value of out-of-the-ordinary tips, such as event tickets of gift certificates.

Dec. 14: Have you been riding the stock market roller coaster, which has been a bit bumpy as 2018 winds down? Then you probably have some capital gains you can take. The tax rate for long-term holdings likely is lower than your ordinary income tax rate, which makes such tax gain harvesting appealing. But even if you had some asset losses, those bad investments could help you reduce or possibly zero out any tax on your gains. Plus, you might consider selling profitable holdings in order to reset your basis.

Dec. 18: School may be out for winter break, but doing some tax homework can earn you a top tax grade. Pay tuition now for 2019 classes that will start in the first quarter of next year and you can use those costs to claim the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

Dec. 21: It's the last weekend before Christmas! That means holiday treats, final decorations and frantic, crowd-fighting last-minute shopping! Or you can make some easy tax-favored gifts, like opening a Roth IRA for your child or grandchild who earned some money from a summer or after-school job.

Dec. 24: Christmas Eve!
No taxes tonight. It's early to bed for kiddies of all ages. Santa's on his way!

Dec. 25: Merry Christmas! My gift to you is another day without tax thoughts.
Just enjoy the holiday and your family and friends.

Dec. 26: Happy Boxing Day. This unofficial holiday on St. Stephen's Day is celebrated by additional giving. If you donate to your favorite charity on this day or any other by the end of the year, you can claim the itemized deduction when you file your return next spring … as long as you follow the IRS' donation tax rules.

Dec. 31: This is it. The drop-dead deadline to make most 2018 tax moves. So do a quick check.

Although the TCJA now limits — and eliminates — some itemized deductions, depending on your personal filing situation you might want to look at Schedule A options. It could still be worthwhile to make your January mortgage payment early so you can deduct the loan interest this tax year. Ditto with your property taxes.

Don't forget to zero out your medical flexible spending account (FSA) if your employer doesn't offer a grace period or rollover. And if you must take a required minimum distribution (RMD), do so — or directly donate it — by year's end.

Done all that (and more)? Great!
Now go out and have fun
at your New Year's Eve party.

Small Business Tax Calendar: Important filing, deposit and record keeping dates throughout the year that your company needs to know. You can get more tax calendar information at the IRS' online calendar page and view the full year's important business and individual tax dates in IRS Pub. 509.

State Tax Help

Don't forget your state taxes!
Forty-three states and D.C. collect personal income taxes. But even if you live in of the seven states without an income levy, you still face other state (and local) taxes.

State Tax Departments provides links to your state's Web page. The companion page, Tax Tidbits, is the compilation of blurbs about each state's tax laws. And for more state tax news, check out all our state tax bloggings.

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I am a professional journalist who has been covering tax issues since 1999.
I am not a professional tax preparer.
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