--- title: Donald Trump Releases Odd Letter on Tied-up Tax Returns description: The letter bolsters claims made by Trump that he is continuously audited by the IRS canonical: https://time.com/4277581/donald-trump-tax-returns-letter/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-31T11:29:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:21:46.815Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Releases Odd Letter on Tied-up Tax Returns og:description: The letter bolsters claims made by Trump that he is continuously audited by the IRS og:url: https://time.com/4277581/donald-trump-tax-returns-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40f167497d573211/6988803bab6d77996e6a8b62/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-15.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Megyn Kelly og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Releases Odd Letter on Tied-up Tax Returns twitter:description: The letter bolsters claims made by Trump that he is continuously audited by the IRS twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40f167497d573211/6988803bab6d77996e6a8b62/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-15.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Releases Odd Letter on Tied-up Tax Returns by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Mar 31, 2016 11:29 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a debate in Detroit, on March 3, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a debate in Detroit, on March 3, 2016.Geoff Robins—AFP/Getty Images by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Mar 31, 2016 11:29 AM UTC Amid his [controversial comments about abortion](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-lewandowski-they-re-destroying-very-good-person-n548036), Donald Trump is trying to change the conversation. On Wednesday evening Trump’s campaign quietly published [a letter from Trump’s tax counsel](https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trumps-u.s.-federal-income-tax-returns) regarding the state of his tax returns, a subject he previously bristled at when asked about by reporters. The letter bolsters claims made by Trump that he is continuously audited by the IRS due to the complexity and breadth of his returns. “Your personal tax returns have been under continuous examination by the Internal Revenue Service since 2002, consistent with the IRS’ practice for large and complex businesses,” the letter reads… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-releases-curious-letter-tied-tax-returns-n548261) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4277581/donald-trump-tax-returns-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4277581/donald-trump-tax-returns-letter/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Releases Odd Letter on Tied-up Tax Returns","datePublished":"2016-03-31T11:29:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:21:46.815Z","description":"The letter bolsters claims made by Trump that he is continuously audited by the IRS","url":"https://time.com/4277581/donald-trump-tax-returns-letter/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40f167497d573211/6988803bab6d77996e6a8b62/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-15.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40f167497d573211/6988803bab6d77996e6a8b62/timpeol-gop-republican-debate-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-john-kasich-15.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Megyn Kelly","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a debate in Detroit, on March 3, 2016.","creditText":"Geoff Robins—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4277581/donald-trump-tax-returns-letter/","name":"Donald Trump Releases Odd Letter on Tied-up Tax Returns"}}]}] ```