DJT on taxes: "There’s nothing to learn from them." Agree or Not?

[Chris Martin]

The quote in the title is from The Associated Press in 2016. Apparently, the government will release redacted DJT taxes soon. I don't know much at this point other than what NY Times wrote about in this article THE PRESIDENT’S TAXES - LONG-CONCEALED RECORDS SHOW TRUMP’S CHRONIC LOSSES AND YEARS OF TAX AVOIDANCE and the (HWMC) House Ways and Means Committee report. 

My view is that a real estate investor can probably learn a lot from tax returns of a self-proclaimed multi-billionaire real estate developer. Example: "In 2018, for example, Mr. Trump announced in his [(presidential) annual financial] disclosure that he had made at least $434.9 million. The tax records deliver a very different portrait of his bottom line: $47.4 million in losses." How did his accountants pull that off? Are these all C-Corp losses from golf courses and hotels? The Times article mentions: "To cancel out the tax bills, Mr. Trump made use of $9.7 million in business investment credits, at least some of which related to his renovation of the Old Post Office hotel, which qualified for a historic-preservation tax break." That's identified on Form 3468 and somewhere on the DJT return there is a Form 3468, and with a big number ($26.3 million) presumably on Part III Line 11(f) to represent the renovation. My business has used Part III, Line 12(b) before so I am somewhat familiar with this credit, and that ends up on Form 3800 that DJT filed in 2016 (page 14, #8 of the HWMC report). 

Another big chunk, apparently, of DJT TLCF involves "abandonment" per the NY Times.  I've never experienced "abandonment", but DJT casinos apparently fit? Did he file Form 4681? This is way outside my tax competence. The HWMC report is an interesting read. You'll see new (to me) acronyms like LUQs (Large Unusual Questionable Items) and, in the text, exactly what the IRS "flags" as issues that warrant examination, like large cash charitable contributions, companies that only have expenses (no income), at-risk loss rules for large pass-through entity losses, stringent requirements for the rehabilitation credit, SFR with no income and $137,111 loss, etc. For most REI, reading through the HWMC report is worth an hour of your time if for nothing more than learning the IRS "flags" (although granted for a sample size of 1.) 

Anyway, do you anticipate that you are going to learn something new or novel about real estate taxes from these returns? Was DJT right about the "There’s nothing to learn from them" comment? 

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Chris Martin:

The quote in the title is from The Associated Press in 2016. Apparently, the government will release redacted DJT taxes soon. I don't know much at this point other than what NY Times wrote about in this article THE PRESIDENT’S TAXES - LONG-CONCEALED RECORDS SHOW TRUMP’S CHRONIC LOSSES AND YEARS OF TAX AVOIDANCE and the (HWMC) House Ways and Means Committee report. 

My view is that a real estate investor can probably learn a lot from tax returns of a self-proclaimed multi-billionaire real estate developer. Example: "In 2018, for example, Mr. Trump announced in his [(presidential) annual financial] disclosure that he had made at least $434.9 million. The tax records deliver a very different portrait of his bottom line: $47.4 million in losses." How did his accountants pull that off? Are these all C-Corp losses from golf courses and hotels? The Times article mentions: "To cancel out the tax bills, Mr. Trump made use of $9.7 million in business investment credits, at least some of which related to his renovation of the Old Post Office hotel, which qualified for a historic-preservation tax break." That's identified on Form 3468 and somewhere on the DJT return there is a Form 3468, and with a big number ($26.3 million) presumably on Part III Line 11(f) to represent the renovation. My business has used Part III, Line 12(b) before so I am somewhat familiar with this credit, and that ends up on Form 3800 that DJT filed in 2016 (page 14, #8 of the HWMC report). 

Another big chunk, apparently, of DJT TLCF involves "abandonment" per the NY Times.  I've never experienced "abandonment", but DJT casinos apparently fit? Did he file Form 4681? This is way outside my tax competence. The HWMC report is an interesting read. You'll see new (to me) acronyms like LUQs (Large Unusual Questionable Items) and, in the text, exactly what the IRS "flags" as issues that warrant examination, like large cash charitable contributions, companies that only have expenses (no income), at-risk loss rules for large pass-through entity losses, stringent requirements for the rehabilitation credit, SFR with no income and $137,111 loss, etc. For most REI, reading through the HWMC report is worth an hour of your time if for nothing more than learning the IRS "flags" (although granted for a sample size of 1.) 

Anyway, do you anticipate that you are going to learn something new or novel about real estate taxes from these returns? Was DJT right about the "There’s nothing to learn from them" comment? 

 I do know that smart hire smarter people who are experts to maximize deductions and find legal loopholes. 

There are people who buy tax credits from other people.

I would be shocked if he was paying  much in taxes given all the business he has.

Remember the name of the game is legally own nothing and control everything.