The House passed (222-201) H.R.9640. This bill requires tax returns by the president of the United States to be audited by the Internal Revenue Services "as rapidly as practicable" and requires the IRS to make the returns publicly available.

Under the measure, the IRS must make available to the public the tax returns and IRS audit materials of the president as well as the returns and audit material of the president's spouse and returns for all corporations, partnerships, trusts or estates that they control.

The agency must redact personally identifying information in the return including the identification number of any person (including any social security number), any financial account number, the name of any individual under age 18, the name of any Treasury employee, or any specific address (but it may include the city and state). The tax returns must be made publically available within 90 days of its filing.

Within 90 days of the audit commencing, the agency must make an initial report publically available which includes basic information about the return and when the audit commenced. It also requires the agency to provide subsequent reports every 180 days after the initial report which must include the status of the audit and an estimated timeframe for its completion.

Additionally, the IRS must make a final report publically available within 90 days of the audit's completion. This final report must include when the audit was completed and a description of all proposed adjustments, adjustments made, and controversies regarding the audit.

If a president fails to file a tax return by the due date, the IRS must still audit the individual's taxable information for that tax year within 60 days of the due date.

Finally, if a president files an amended return, the IRS must follow the bill's requirements for the amended return as if it were a "new" return.

Supporters of the bill, mainly Democrats, say the legislation is needed after the Ways and Means Committee investigation found numerous problems within the IRS' presidential audit program, chiefly that the audit of President Trump's returns began only after the committee's request for his returns, despite a requirement to audit all sitting presidents' and vice presidents' taxes. They say that changes are required to the program so that the public can trust in the accountability and transparency during the audit of a sitting president's tax returns. They contend their insistence on changes was not directed at former-President Trump, but at the audit program broadly, and that presidents must be held to a higher standard of public accountability.

Opponents of the bill, mainly Republicans, say the review of the IRS presidential audit program was always a pretext used to gain access to Trump's tax returns. They say that supporters are simply using the legislation to further a "fishing expedition" to damage their political opponent. They say using the committee process to seek, and then release, sensitive taxpayer information sets a dangerous precedent that risked paving the way for lawmakers to routinely expose the private finances of their political adversaries. And they say that the legislation and tax return release is being rushed through the chamber while Democrats still control the House of Representatives, and does not reflect a substantive or thorough review of the audit program nor Trump's tax returns themselves.

Should Congress pass H.R.9640, the Presidential Tax Filing and Audit Transparency Act?