Donald Trump Can Legally Release Tax Returns Despite Being Audited ‘Unfairly’

Ahead of Super Tuesday, presidential candidate Donald Trump returned to Twitter Saturday to complain he was being “unfairly” audited by the IRS. The businessman has refused to release his tax returns, while GOP rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have pledged to make theirs available.

Trump, whose companies have filed for bankruptcy on four different occasions, said he would not release his tax returns because he was currently being audited by the tax agency. “You're in the midst of negotiating and talking to the IRS. You would never put it out. Your lawyers would never allow you to do that,” Trump told CNN after Thursday's debate. In the interview, Trump said he has been audited for the past 10 or 12 years, with the most recent one being a “simple audit.” After the investigation, Trump said he would release the tax returns.

While Trump claims it would not be legally responsible to release this information, the IRS said there's nothing preventing him from sharing it. Some tax experts warn the additional media scrutiny could complicate the IRS investigation. Individual transactions that may have gone unnoticed could gain the attention of the agency, experts told the Hill. Any additional amendments to Trump's tax returns would also become public knowledge.

The IRS said Trump's claim of being audited each year for over a decade was not likely true. “It would be an extremely rare case for anyone to be audited by us, on an individual basis, year in and year out,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told C-SPAN's “Newsmakers.” Koskinen, in response to Trump's claim his strong Christian identity could have led to the audits, said a person's political stance or religious beliefs were not factors in the process.

It's also unclear if Trump is being personally audited or if his organization is being investigated. The complicated nature of a company's finances could lead to increased attention from the IRS, Daniel Shaviro, professor of taxation at New York University Law School, told NPR.

While Rubio said he would release his tax returns from 2010 to 2014, the Florida Senator in the past has released only partial tax returns, the Huffington Post reported. Rubio's released tax returns from 2005 to 2009 cover only the first two pages and do not include his deductions.

Cruz, the Texas senator, has previously made his tax returns publicly available, giving his tax information from 2006 to 2010 to the Texas Tribune.

On the Democratic candidate side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have made their tax returns public. Clinton's tax returns are available on her website. Sanders filed jointly with his wife and reported income of just over $200,000 for 2014, according to the Washington Post.