Trump accused of massive tax dodge

● Probe into claims he helped parents pocket millions

The New York state tax department is investigating reports that President Donald Trump helped his parents dodge millions of dollars in taxes and received more money from his father’s real estate empire than he has claimed in the past.

Earlier, the New York Times said its own exhaustive probe of a vast trove of tax returns and confidential records showed that Trump had engaged in suspect tax tactics, including “outright fraud” that greatly inflated the funds he received from his parents.

Trump has said on numerous occasions that he received little help from his father, New York property developer Fred Trump, in building his fortune.

“The tax department is reviewing the allegations in the NYT article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation,” New York state taxation and financing spokesperson James Gazzale said.

The Times said Trump had received the equivalent of $413m (about R6bn) in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate activities – having earned $200,000 (R3m) a year in today’s dollars by the age of three. By the age of eight, he was already a millionaire.

Trump was receiving the equivalent of $1m (R14.4m) a year from his father shortly after his college graduation, it added, noting that the funds grew to more than $5m (R72m) a year when he was in his 40s and 50s.

The Times said the bulk of the funds were from tax evasion tactics that Trump allegedly helped devise, including a “sham corporation” he and his siblings created to hide millions of dollars in gifts from their parents.

There were also millions of dollars in improper tax deductions and Trump allegedly helped further reduce his parents’ tax bill by undervaluing their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns, the Times said.

The newspaper said Trump’s parents, Fred and Mary Trump, who died respectively in 1999 and 2000, transferred more than $1bn (R14.4bn) in wealth to their five children.

One of Trump’s lawyers, Charles Harder, decried the newspaper’s allegations as “100% false, and highly defamatory”.

“President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters.”

Harder insisted that the matter was mostly handled by other relatives who relied entirely on licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.

The White House said: “Many decades ago, the IRS reviewed and signed off on these transactions.”

Spokesperson Sarah Sanders said: “Perhaps another apology from the New York Times, like the one they had to issue after they got the 2016 election so embarrassingly wrong, is in order.”

The Times said Trump’s father had used various methods to funnel his wealth to his children and shield it from the Internal Revenue Service.

Breaking with the practice of past presidents, Trump has refused so far to release his tax returns.

Citing tax experts, the Times said Trump was unlikely to face criminal prosecution for helping his parents evade taxes but could face civil fines for tax fraud if the matter is pursued by the authorities.

Breaking with the practice of past presidents, Trump has refused so far to release his returns