Trump tax returns made public after lengthy legal battle

The House Ways and Means Committee on Friday released six years of former President Donald Trump's individual income tax returns as well as filings from multiple Trump business entities.

The move wraps up a three-year court battle from Ways and Means' Democratic majority to obtain the returns and comes just days before Republicans take control of the House.

The filings (committee zip files) show that Trump and his wife, Melania, reported losses and owing $750 or less in federal income tax in most tax years from 2015 through 2020. Only in 2018 and 2019 did they report any taxable income and pay higher income taxes.

The couple's total tax liability also included other charges, like a self-employment tax that increased what they owed, with the total ranging from $271,973 in 2020 to almost $2.1 million in 2018, an analysis of the returns from the Joint Committee on Taxation found.

The JCT's review of the documents — released by Ways and Means Democrats last week — identified a range of areas that the nonpartisan committee said warranted further review by auditors, including verifying losses carried from previous tax years, whether substantiation was provided for large charitable deductions and whether loans to Trump's children were disguised gifts.