Tax Controversy Attorney Rettig To Be Nominated IRS Commissioner (1/26/18)

Chuck Rettig, here, a prominent and respected player in the tax controversy (including tax crimes) arena is reported to be Trump's pick for Commissioner of Internal Revenue.  Here is one article:

David M. Katz, Trump Tax-Returns Defender on Tap to Head IRS: Report (CFO 1/25/18), here.

President Trump is reportedly on the verge of naming Charles P. Rettig, a Beverly Hills tax lawyer who wrote that candidate Trump’s lawyers shouldn’t advise him to release his tax returns, as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. 

“Is there any legal impediment to Trump publicly releasing his tax returns? Absolutely not,” Rettig, a tax litigator who has served more than 35 years at Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez and has represented clients before the IRS, said on February 28, 2016  in one of a number of columns he’s written for the “IRS Watch” section of Forbes. 

“Would any experienced tax lawyer representing Trump in an IRS audit advise him to publicly release his tax returns during the audit? Absolutely not,” Rettig added. To date, President Trump, who Forbes reports as having a current net worth of $3.1 billion, hasn’t made his returns public.   

On Tuesday night,  Politco, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the selection process, reported that President Trump will nominate Rettig to head the IRS. Rettig would then have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Now for some of you who are not tax litigators, I think Rettig's hypothetical advice was solely from the perspective of a tax controversy lawyer advising Trump with the sole focus on representing him under audit.  I think most tax controversy lawyers would advise Trump that, solely based on the needs of that representation in the audit, there would be nothing to be gained from  disclosing his tax returns.  Rettig's advice did not address anything other than the hyptothetical tax controversy lawyer's perspective.

Finally, in my opinion, Chuck will be a great Commissioner.