I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 540 

To require the disclosure of the Federal income tax returns of the President. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2017 

Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BEYER, Ms. TITUS, Ms. 

CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. KAPTUR, 

Mr. NADLER, Mr. EVANS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. BRENDAN F. 

BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. 

SLAUGHTER, Mr. COHEN, and Ms. LOFGREN) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 

Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the disclosure of the Federal income tax returns 

of the President. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as ‘‘Presidential Tax Disclo5 sure Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX RETURNS 

2 OF THE PRESIDENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any individual holding the office 

4 of President shall submit to the Director of the Office of 

5 Government Ethics a copy of each Federal income tax re6 turn filed by such individual with the Internal Revenue 

7 Service for any taxable year ending during the period such 

8 individual holds such office. Such copy shall be so sub9 mitted not later than the earlier of the date which is 90 

10 days after such return is so filed or the end of the calendar 

11 year in which such return is so filed. 

12 (b) APPLICATION TO CERTAIN PRIOR YEAR RE13 TURNS.—Not later than 90 days after an individual first 

14 assumes the office of President, such individual shall sub15 mit to the Director of the Office of Government Ethics 

16 a copy of each Federal income tax return filed by such 

17 individual with the Internal Revenue Service for the 3 

18 most recent taxable years ending before the date on which 

19 such individual first assumes such office. 

20 (c) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—In the case of any Fed21 eral income tax return received by the Director of the Of22 fice of Government Ethics under subsection (a) or (b) of 

23 this section or section 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue 

24 Code of 1986, the Director shall, not later than 7 business 

25 days after receiving such return— 


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1 (1) make such return publicly available on the 

2 Internet; and 

3 (2) submit such return to the Committees on 

4 the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Oversight and 

5 Government Reform of the House of Representatives 

6 and to the Committees on the Judiciary and Finance 

7 of the Senate. 

8 (d) SPECIAL RULES.— 

9 (1) DISCLOSURE OF ENTIRE RETURN.—Any 

10 reference in this section to a Federal income tax re11 turn includes all schedules, supplements, amend12 ments, and attachments with respect to such return. 

13 In the case of any such schedule, supplement, 

14 amendment, or attachment which is not filed with 

15 the Internal Revenue Service on the same date as 

16 the return, such schedule, supplement, amendment, 

17 or attachment shall be treated as a separate return 

18 for purposes of determining the deadline for submis19 sion and disclosure under this section. 

20 (2) PERMITTED REDACTIONS.—No information 

21 may be redacted from any return submitted or dis22 closed under this section, except the following infor23 mation: 

24 (A) Any Social Security number of any in25 dividual. 


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1 (B) Any taxpayer identification number of 

2 any person. 

3 (C) Any account identification number. 

4 (D) Any name of any dependent of the 

5 taxpayer. 

6 (3) APPLICATION TO SPOUSES.— 

7 (A) JOINT RETURNS.—In the case of any 

8 return which is filed jointly with the spouse of 

9 any individual, the entire return shall be treated 

10 as the return of such individual for purposes of 

11 this section. 

12 (B) SEPARATE RETURNS.—If the spouse of 

13 any individual to whom subsection (a) applies 

14 files a Federal income tax return which is sepa15 rate from such individual, this section and sec16 tion 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue Code 

17 of 1986 shall apply to such return in the same 

18 manner as such section would apply if such re19 turn were filed by such individual. 

20 (e) ENFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

21 (1) The Attorney General may bring a civil ac22 tion in any appropriate United States district court 

23 against any individual who knowingly falsifies or 

24 who knowingly fails to submit or disclose any infor25 mation that such individual is required to submit or 


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1 disclose pursuant to this section or section 

2 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

3 The court may assess against such individual a civil 

4 penalty in an amount of not more than $50,000. 

5 (2) It shall be unlawful for any person to know6 ingly— 

7 (A) falsify any information that such per8 son is required to submit or disclose under this 

9 section or section 6103(l)(23) of the Internal 

10 Revenue Code of 1986; or 

11 (B) fail to so submit or disclose such infor12 mation. 

13 (3) Any person who— 

14 (A) violates paragraph (2)(A) shall be 

15 fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned for 

16 not more than 6 months, or both, and 

17 (B) violates paragraph (2)(B) shall be 

18 fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned for 

19 not more than 6 months or both. 

20 (4) The Director of the Office of Government 

21 Ethics, or any Committee referred to in subsection 

22 (c)(2), may refer to the Attorney General the name 

23 of any individual which such Director or Committee 

24 has reasonable cause to believe has violated para25 graph (2). 


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1 (f) ALTERNATIVE DISCLOSURE BY SECRETARY OF

2 THE TREASURY.—Section 6103(l) of the Internal Revenue 

3 Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(23) DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS OF THE

6 PRESIDENT.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If any Federal income 

8 tax return required to be submitted to the Di9 rector of the Office of Government Ethics under 

10 subsection (a) or (b) of section 2 of the Presi11 dential Tax Disclosure Act of 2017 is not so 

12 submitted before the date specified in such sub13 section with respect to such submission (or if 

14 any such return so submitted is incomplete or 

15 inaccurate), the Secretary shall disclose such re16 turn to the Director of the Office of Govern17 ment Ethics not later than 30 days after such 

18 date. 

19 ‘‘(B) REDACTIONS; ETC.—Rules similar to 

20 the rules of section 2(d) of the Presidential Tax 

21 Disclosure Act of 2017 shall apply for purposes 

22 of this paragraph, except that the Secretary 

23 shall redact the information described in sub24 paragraphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (2) 


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1 of such section before disclosing such return 

2 under subparagraph (A). 

3 ‘‘(C) REDISCLOSURE.—Return information 

4 disclosed under subparagraph (A) may be redis5 closed by the Director of the Office of Govern6 ment Ethics as provided in section 2(c) of the 

7 Presidential Tax Disclosure Act of 2017.’’. 

8 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section, and the amend9 ments made by this section, shall apply with respect to 

10 individuals assuming the office of President after Decem11 ber 31, 2016. 

Æ 


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