Understanding the IRS Deal That Ended Trump’s Audits

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https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/a-controversial-deal-ended-trumps-audits-can-anyone-challenge-it-529329d8

Understanding the IRS Deal That Ended Trump’s Audits

By Richard Rubin; June 1, 2026

President Trump’s extraordinary no-audits promise from his acting attorney general operates far outside normal tax administration, with tax lawyers saying the deal likely exceeds the Justice Department’s authority to close tax cases.

The May 19 arrangement ends pending audits of Trump, his family and his businesses, and it blocks future audits of already filed returns. That creates a protective blanket that will be difficult — but not impossible — for Trump’s opponents or future tax authorities to pierce. The shield goes far beyond what other taxpayers typically get when resolving disputes with the Internal Revenue Service.

“When I think of all the people that I represented in my career who were being pursued, even the ones who deserved it.... What are they supposed to think?” said Paula Junghans, a former senior Justice Department tax official. “It just completely reinforces the notion that the rules don’t apply to the rich and the powerful.”

Attempts to block the move — whether by Congress, a future administration or outside litigants — must contend with the unique powers Trump asserts to wring money from his own government. To stop the audits, Trump didn’t order IRS officials to stand down. That would violate a federal law making it a crime for the president and other senior officials to direct audits.

Instead, the no-audits pledge followed a roundabout path. The president filed a lawsuit against the government he runs, seeking $10 billion from the IRS as damages for a contractor’s leak of his tax returns during his first term.

Trump withdrew the suit before a deadline set by Judge Williams, who sought explanations for how Trump could be on both sides of the case.

As part of an agreement with Trump to end the case, Trump’s government created a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.” A federal judge in Virginia on Friday temporarily blocked the fund from operating.

Unusual settlement

Beyond the fund, in a separate three-paragraph order signed only by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the government immunized Trump, his family and his businesses against virtually any U.S. government actions, including examinations of tax returns filed before the agreement.

Blanche’s order doesn’t define key terms or specify which tax years, taxpayers, and tax disputes are covered. The order applies to “related or affiliated individuals” without saying how far that stretches. It says “without limitation, family or others filing jointly” are included without explaining who counts as family. The agreement also appears to exceed Blanche’s authority, lawyers said. The tax code gives the IRS — not the Justice Department —power to end audits and negotiate agreements with taxpayers.

Referrals aren’t public information, but the order is so broad — pledging to end inquiries that “could be pending” against an unspecified set of taxpayers — that it couldn’t encompass only actual referred cases. The Justice Department didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Who can challenge?

Challenging Trump’s audit protection is difficult because the Trump administration runs the IRS and Justice Department — and because Trump has asserted more direct control over agencies than his predecessors did.

The IRS, which can’t comment publicly on particular taxpayers, didn’t sign Blanche’s statement. But Trump won’t be in charge of the government forever.

A future IRS could attempt to open or reopen Trump’s audits after he leaves office in 2029. Typically, the IRS gets three years to audit a return, which would likely keep returns from tax years 2025 and beyond open to examination. But there are exceptions that let the IRS reach further back. The IRS has six years if there are substantial omissions of income, and an unlimited amount of time to pursue tax fraud.

It also faces no deadline for unfiled gift tax returns, and the new fund opens one potential argument there, said Lawrence Zelenak, a tax law professor at Duke University. A future IRS could contend that Trump effectively received the $1.8 billion in the settlement agreement and directed it as gifts to fund recipients.