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. SCHA-
KOWSKY, 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 pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To require the disclosure of the Federal income tax returns 
of the President. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as ‘‘Presidential Tax Disclo-
sure Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX RETURNS 
OF THE PRESIDENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any individual holding the office 
of President shall submit to the Director of the Office of 
Government Ethics a copy of each Federal income tax re-
turn filed by such individual with the Internal Revenue 
Service for any taxable year ending during the period such 
individual holds such office. Such copy shall be so sub-
mitted not later than the earlier of the date which is 90 
days after such return is so filed or the end of the calendar 
year in which such return is so filed. 
(b) APPLICATION
TO CERTAIN PRIOR YEAR RE-
TURNS.—Not later than 90 days after an individual first 
assumes the office of President, such individual shall sub-
mit to the Director of the Office of Government Ethics 
a copy of each Federal income tax return filed by such 
individual with the Internal Revenue Service for the 3 
most recent taxable years ending before the date on which 
such individual first assumes such office. 
(c) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—In the case of any Fed-
eral income tax return received by the Director of the Of-
fice of Government Ethics under subsection (a) or (b) of 
this section or section 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986, the Director shall, not later than 7 business 
days after receiving such return— 
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(1) make such return publicly available on the 
Internet; and 
(2) submit such return to the Committees on 
the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Oversight and 
Government Reform of the House of Representatives 
and to the Committees on the Judiciary and Finance 
of the Senate. 
(d) SPECIAL RULES.— 
(1) DISCLOSURE
OF
ENTIRE
RETURN.—Any 
reference in this section to a Federal income tax re-
turn includes all schedules, supplements, amend-
ments, and attachments with respect to such return. 
In the case of any such schedule, supplement, 
amendment, or attachment which is not filed with 
the Internal Revenue Service on the same date as 
the return, such schedule, supplement, amendment, 
or attachment shall be treated as a separate return 
for purposes of determining the deadline for submis-
sion and disclosure under this section. 
(2) PERMITTED REDACTIONS.—No information 
may be redacted from any return submitted or dis-
closed under this section, except the following infor-
mation: 
(A) Any Social Security number of any in-
dividual. 
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(B) Any taxpayer identification number of 
any person. 
(C) Any account identification number. 
(D) Any name of any dependent of the 
taxpayer. 
(3) APPLICATION TO SPOUSES.— 
(A) JOINT RETURNS.—In the case of any 
return which is filed jointly with the spouse of 
any individual, the entire return shall be treated 
as the return of such individual for purposes of 
this section. 
(B) SEPARATE RETURNS.—If the spouse of 
any individual to whom subsection (a) applies 
files a Federal income tax return which is sepa-
rate from such individual, this section and sec-
tion 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986 shall apply to such return in the same 
manner as such section would apply if such re-
turn were filed by such individual. 
(e) ENFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 
(1) The Attorney General may bring a civil ac-
tion in any appropriate United States district court 
against any individual who knowingly falsifies or 
who knowingly fails to submit or disclose any infor-
mation that such individual is required to submit or 
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disclose 
pursuant 
to 
this 
section 
or 
section 
6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 
The court may assess against such individual a civil 
penalty in an amount of not more than $50,000. 
(2) It shall be unlawful for any person to know-
ingly— 
(A) falsify any information that such per-
son is required to submit or disclose under this 
section or section 6103(l)(23) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986; or 
(B) fail to so submit or disclose such infor-
mation. 
(3) Any person who— 
(A) violates paragraph (2)(A) shall be 
fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned for 
not more than 6 months, or both, and 
(B) violates paragraph (2)(B) shall be 
fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned for 
not more than 6 months or both. 
(4) The Director of the Office of Government 
Ethics, or any Committee referred to in subsection 
(c)(2), may refer to the Attorney General the name 
of any individual which such Director or Committee 
has reasonable cause to believe has violated para-
graph (2). 
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(f) ALTERNATIVE DISCLOSURE BY SECRETARY OF 
THE TREASURY.—Section 6103(l) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(23) DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS OF THE 
PRESIDENT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If any Federal income 
tax return required to be submitted to the Di-
rector of the Office of Government Ethics under 
subsection (a) or (b) of section 2 of the Presi-
dential Tax Disclosure Act of 2017 is not so 
submitted before the date specified in such sub-
section with respect to such submission (or if 
any such return so submitted is incomplete or 
inaccurate), the Secretary shall disclose such re-
turn to the Director of the Office of Govern-
ment Ethics not later than 30 days after such 
date. 
‘‘(B) REDACTIONS; ETC.—Rules similar to 
the rules of section 2(d) of the Presidential Tax 
Disclosure Act of 2017 shall apply for purposes 
of this paragraph, except that the Secretary 
shall redact the information described in sub-
paragraphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (2) 
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of such section before disclosing such return 
under subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(C) REDISCLOSURE.—Return information 
disclosed under subparagraph (A) may be redis-
closed by the Director of the Office of Govern-
ment Ethics as provided in section 2(c) of the 
Presidential Tax Disclosure Act of 2017.’’. 
(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section, and the amend-
ments made by this section, shall apply with respect to 
individuals assuming the office of President after Decem-
ber 31, 2016. 
Æ 
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