DOJ Orders IRS To Hand Over Trump's Tax Returns To Congress

The US justice department has ordered the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to hand over former President Donald Trump's tax returns to Congress, the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) reported.

Photo Insert: Then President Donald Trump speaking at The White House

The move reverses a 2019 finding that the request from the House Ways and Means Committee was "disingenuous." The decision appears to end a long legal battle over the records and is seen as a sharp legal blow to Trump.

Although not required by law, every US president since 1976 - except Mr Trump - has released their tax returns.

A statement from the department said the House Ways and Means Committee, which sought six years of records that some believe could expose questionable accounting, had a legitimate reason to see them, France 24 also reported.

"Access to former president Trump's tax returns is a matter of national security," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress.

"The American people deserve to know the facts of his troubling conflicts of interest and undermining of our security and democracy as president."

The ruling was the second legal setback this year to the real estate tycoon's longstanding efforts to keep his tax filings, which include asset, income and tax payment data, from becoming public.

In February the Supreme Court declined to block a subpoena of Trump's taxes by a New York prosecutor investigating his business and personal financial dealings. In that case the records are protected from being disclosed to the public, Agence France-Presse (AFP) also reported.

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