Comey and McCabe, Who Infuriated Trump, Both Faced Intensive I.R.S. Audits
Comey and McCabe, Who Infuriated Trump, Both Faced Intensive I.R.S. Audits
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Among tax lawyers, the most invasive type of random audit carried out by the I.R.S. is known, only partly jokingly, as “an autopsy without the benefit of death.”
The odds of being selected for that audit in any given year are tiny — out of nearly 153 million individual returns filed for 2017, for example, the I.R.S. targeted about 5,000, or roughly one out of 30,600.
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One of the few who received a bureaucratic letter with the news that his 2017 return would be under intensive scrutiny was James B. Comey, who had been fired as F.B.I. director that year by President Donald J. Trump. Furious over what he saw as Mr. Comey’s lack of loyalty and his pursuit of the Russia investigation, Mr. Trump had continued to rail against him even after his dismissal, accusing him of treason, calling for his prosecution and publicly complaining about the money Mr. Comey received for a book after his dismissal.
Mr. Comey was informed of the audit in 2019. Two years later, the I.R.S., still under the leadership of a Trump appointee after President Biden took office, picked about 8,000 returns for the same type of audit Mr. Comey had undergone from the 154 million individual returns filed in 2019, or about one in 19,250.
Among those who were chosen to have their 2019 returns scrutinized was the man who had been Mr. Comey’s deputy at the bureau: Andrew G. McCabe, who served several months as acting F.B.I. director after Mr. Comey’s firing.
Mr. McCabe was later dismissed by the Trump Justice Department after its watchdog accused him of misleading internal F.B.I. investigators. Like Mr. Comey, he had come to be perceived as an enemy by Mr. Trump, who assailed him, accused him of treason and raised questions about his finances long after pushing for his dismissal and prosecution, a pattern that continued even after Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election and began trying to overturn the results.
Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe — whose spouses were also audited because both couples filed joint returns — provided the letters initiating their audits to The New York Times. Mr. Comey provided The Times with a privacy release allowing the I.R.S. to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request about his case. Neither man knew that the other had been audited until they were told by a reporter for The Times.
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The minuscule chances of the two highest-ranking F.B.I. officials — who made some of the most politically consequential law enforcement decisions in a generation — being randomly subjected to a detailed scrub of their tax returns a few years after leaving their posts presents extraordinary questions.
Was it sheer coincidence that two close associates would randomly come under the scrutiny of the same audit program within two years of each other? Did something in their returns increase the chances of their being selected? Could the audits have been connected to criminal investigations pursued by the Trump Justice Department against both men, neither of whom was ever charged?
Or did someone in the federal government or at the I.R.S. — an agency that at times, like under the Nixon administration, was used for political purposes but says it has imposed a range of internal controls intended to thwart anyone from improperly using its powers — corrupt the process?
“Lightning strikes, and that’s unusual, and that’s what it’s like being picked for one of these audits,” said John A. Koskinen, the I.R.S. commissioner from 2013 to 2017. “The question is: Does lightning then strike again in the same area? Does it happen? Some people may see that in their lives, but most will not — so you don’t need to be an anti-Trumper to look at this and think it’s suspicious.”
How taxpayers get selected for the program of intensive audits — known as the National Research Program — is closely held. The I.R.S. is prohibited by law from discussing specific cases, further walling off from scrutiny the type of audit Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe faced.
The I.R.S. commissioner, Charles P. Rettig, who was appointed to the post by Mr. Trump in 2018, declined to be interviewed about the audits, discussions he may have had with Mr. Trump or his political appointees, or how compliance research examinations work. But in a written statement, the agency said he had no role in selecting candidates for audit.
“Commissioner Rettig is not involved in individual audits or taxpayer cases; those are handled by career civil servants,” the statement said. “As I.R.S. commissioner, he has never been in contact with the White House — in either administration — on I.R.S. enforcement or individual taxpayer matters. He has been committed to running the I.R.S. in an impartial, unbiased manner from top to bottom.”
Pressed on whether the I.R.S. would look into the questions raised by the Comey and McCabe audits, the agency noted in its statement — without referring specifically to their cases — that whenever it learns of allegations of wrongdoing, it reaches out to the inspector general for tax administration in the Treasury Department “for further review.”
Asked about the audits, Mr. Trump, through a spokeswoman, said, “I have no knowledge of this.” He went on to point to reports from the Justice Department’s inspector general that were critical of Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe.
Former I.R.S. officials and tax lawyers said that given the array of reforms imposed on the agency after the Watergate scandal, they believed it would be difficult for a president or an appointee to direct an audit at a political opponent.
But the officials and lawyers said that because Mr. Trump repeatedly tried to use the powers of the federal government against his rivals and to overturn the election, and because the I.R.S. conducted an extensive audit on two people whom he routinely pushed to have prosecuted, the tax inspector general or Congress should investigate the circumstances.
Mr. Comey’s audit, which lasted over a year, revealed that he and his wife, Patrice Comey, had overpaid their 2017 federal income taxes. They received a $347 refund.
“I don’t know whether anything improper happened, but after learning how unusual this audit was and how badly Trump wanted to hurt me during that time, it made sense to try to figure it out,” Mr. Comey said in a statement. “Maybe it’s a coincidence or maybe somebody misused the I.R.S. to get at a political enemy. Given the role Trump wants to continue to play in our country, we should know the answer to that question.”
Mr. McCabe said that his audit determined that he and his wife, Jill McCabe, owed the federal government a small amount of money, which they paid. He said he now believed the audit had concluded.
“The revenue agent I dealt with was professional and responsive,” Mr. McCabe said. “Nevertheless, I have significant questions about how or why I was selected for this.”
Under the Microscope
The audits conducted on Mr. Comey, Mr. McCabe and their spouses, according to the letters they received from the agency, were carried out under an I.R.S. research program to learn who is — and who is not — paying their taxes.
The agency uses these “compliance research examinations” to determine the tax gap and adjust its dragnets, including a closely guarded formula that is intended to catch tax cheats. The number of audits carried out declined beginning with returns for 2015 because of budget strains before turning up somewhat in 2018 and 2019, the most recent years for which figures are available.
“Your federal income tax return for the year shown above was selected at random for a compliance research examination,” the letters to both the Comeys and the McCabes said. “We must examine randomly selected tax returns to better understand tax compliance and improve fairness of the tax system. We’ll give you the opportunity to explain any errors we may find during the examination.”
In many instances, the agency catches taxpayers who undergo the audits understating their incomes and overstating their deductions, forcing them to pay penalties and interest. Even if a person has done nothing w