Biden officials say they still need more time in Trump tax-return case

The Biden administration on Friday said that it still needs more time to determine its position in a lawsuit over House Democrats’ request for former President Trump’s tax returns.

The Democratic-led Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and IRS in 2019, while Trump was still president, after the agencies refused to comply with requests and subpoenas for six years of Trump’s federal tax filings.

Biden administration officials have not yet said whether they plan to provide the Ways and Means Committee with the requested documents.

In a court filing on Friday, lawyers for the committee and the administration wrote that they were continuing to have discussions that may inform the administration’s position. They asked that the parties and the case be directed to file another status report on or before May 28.

Judge Trevor McFadden, a federal district court judge in Washington, D.C., appointed by Trump, has issued an order directing the administration to give Trump’s personal lawyers 72 hours notice before providing the former president’s tax returns to House Democrats.

That order is currently set to expire on Monday, and the Biden administration said in Friday’s court filing that it would not be opposed to a short-term extension of this order.

Trump’s personal lawyers said in the latest court filing they had no objection to the administration’s proposal for another status report, so long as the notice requirement remains in effect.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) is seeking Trump’s tax returns under a provision of the federal tax code that states that the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” returns requested by the chairs of Congress’s tax committee.

Neal has said he wants to see the documents because the committee is interested in how the IRS enforces tax laws against presidents. The Trump administration argued that Neal’s request lacked a “legitimate legislative purpose.”