Trump's finances under fire AGAIN as it's revealed he may owe $100M after ... trends now
Donald Trump could owe a staggering $100 million in taxes after allegedly 'double dipping' on deductions, according to an IRS audit.
The inquiry, revealed by The New York Times and ProPublica, centers around the former president's glittering skyscraper in Chicago.
The 92-story structure opened over budget and during the recession, resulting in huge losses that Trump attempted to claim back.
However, the IRS, and several tax experts, believe he may have effectively written off the same losses twice resulting in massive tax breaks.
'I think he ripped off the tax system,' Walter Schwidetzky, a law professor at the University of Baltimore and an expert on partnership taxation, told the Times.
Donald Trump could owe a staggering $100 million in taxes after allegedly 'double dipping' on deductions, according to an IRS audit
The IRS inquiry, revealed by The New York Times and ProPublica, centers around the former president's glittering skyscraper in Chicago (pictured)
The IRS, and several tax experts, believe Trump may have effectively written off the same losses ton the tower twice resulting in massive tax breaks
The first write-off took place in 2008 when Trump claimed the $847 million condo-hotel met the tax threshold of 'worthless' as spiraling debts meant he would never turn a profit.
Trump secured the former site of the Chicago-Sun Tribune in 2001 and made it the centerpiece of his TV show The Apprentice, offering the winner the 'mind-boggling job' of managing the facility.
Initially slated to open in 2007 at a cost of $650 million, various setbacks saw the deadline and the budget inch further and further away.
The arrival of the recession saw already sluggish sales of the condos stall further and Trump began to default on his loans.
This allowed him report losses of up to $651 million for the year, The Times and ProPublica found.
He would eventually go on to sue his lenders Deutsche Bank over the loans, claiming the recession was a force majeure, which the bank and its contemporaries had a hand in orchestrating.
His 2008 tax return saw him file business losses of $697 million, with experts suggesting the bulk of this came from the tower since this information is not publicly disclosed.
However just two years later, Trump's accountants appear to have attempted to extract further tax benefits from the losses by transferring the company that owned the tower into a new partnership.
It is alleged that Trump attempted to write off losses on the tower in 2008 and again in 2010
But Eric Trump (right), executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said the matter has been resolved and he is confident in the company's position
