The Secret IRS Files
Inside the Tax Records of the .001%
A massive trove of tax information obtained by ProPublica, covering thousands of America’s wealthiest individuals, reveals what’s inside the billionaires’ bag of tricks for minimizing their personal tax bills — sometimes to nothing.
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The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
Help Us Report on the Ultrawealthy and Taxes
Do you have expertise in tax law, accounting or wealth management? Do you have tips to share? Here’s how to get in touch.
Other Entries
How the Trump Tax Law Created a Loophole That Lets Top Executives Net Millions by Slashing Their Own Salaries
The 2017 tax cuts made it more attractive for certain company owners to be paid in profits instead of wages. Some cut their own wages, expanding a loophole that was already costing the U.S. billions.
Secret IRS Files Reveal How Much the Ultrawealthy Gained by Shaping Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Tax Cut”
Billionaire business owners deployed lobbyists to make sure Trump’s 2017 tax bill was tailored to their benefit. Confidential IRS records show the windfall that followed.
The Inside Story of How We Reported the Secret IRS Files
The ProPublica journalists who obtained the secret tax documents of thousands of America’s richest people share how they conceived of their stories, what readers should understand about the tax system and where they’re taking these stories next.
The Number of People With IRAs Worth $5 Million or More Has Tripled, Congress Says
After ProPublica revealed that some wealthy Americans hold Roth IRAs worth hundreds of millions — compared to $39,000 for the average account holder — Democrats requested data. It shows more than 28,000 people with IRAs worth $5 million or more.
Democratic Senators Call for Investigation of Tax Avoidance by the Ultrawealthy
Calling ProPublica’s Secret IRS Files series a “bombshell,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse demanded an investigation into how the rich use “legal tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of income taxes.”
The Billionaire Playbook: How Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Millions in Taxes
Owners like Steve Ballmer can take the kinds of deductions on team assets — everything from media deals to player contracts — that industrialists take on factory equipment. That helps them pay lower tax rates than players and even stadium workers.
Eight Takeaways From ProPublica’s Investigation of How Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Taxes
How do billionaire team owners end up paying lower tax rates not only than their millionaire players, but even the person serving beer in the stadium? Let’s go to the highlights.
Campaign to Rein in Mega IRA Tax Shelters Gains Steam in Congress Following ProPublica Report
One proposal would ban the kinds of transactions that helped Peter Thiel amass $5 billion in his Roth; another would cap how much could be saved tax-free in these retirement accounts. But two unrelated bills could undermine those efforts.
Why You Can’t Turn Your Roth IRA Into a Billion-Dollar Tax Shelter
Unless you have access to nonpublic stock of a future tech giant, it’s pretty hard to turn a humble retirement account into a tax-free piggy bank.
The Ultrawealthy Have Hijacked Roth IRAs. The Senate Finance Chair Is Eyeing a Crackdown.
Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said he planned to rein in tax breaks for gargantuan Roth retirement accounts after ProPublica exposed how the superrich used them to shield their fortunes from taxes
Lord of the Roths: How Tech Mogul Peter Thiel Turned a Retirement Account for the Middle Class Into a $5 Billion Tax-Free Piggy Bank
Roth IRAs were intended to help average working Americans save, but IRS records show Thiel and other ultrawealthy investors have used them to amass vast untaxed fortunes.
Leading Manhattan DA Candidate Has Repeatedly Paid Virtually No Federal Income Taxes
Tali Farhadian Weinstein, who donated $8 million to her own campaign, and her hedge fund manager husband paid nothing (or almost nothing) to the IRS four times in six years.
ProPublica’s Tax Revelations Lead to Calls for Reforms — and Investigation
The Secret IRS Files series has already sparked a conversation about the fairness of the U.S. tax code and raised privacy concerns.
Why We Are Publishing the Tax Secrets of the .001%
We are disclosing the tax details of the richest Americans because we believe the public interest in an informed debate outweighs privacy considerations.
The Secret IRS Files Short Form: A Quick Guide to What We Uncovered
10 important takeaways from ProPublica’s first report on a vast collection of tax records for America’s wealthiest.
You May Be Paying a Higher Tax Rate Than a Billionaire
A new ProPublica analysis of a trove of IRS documents revealed that the richest 25 Americans pay a tiny fraction of their wealth in taxes. But even if you use the most conventional yardstick — income — the wealthiest still pay low rates.
How We Calculated the True Tax Rates of the Wealthiest
ProPublica started with a trove of private tax data — then analyzed those records, along with sources ranging from Forbes’ list of billionaires to publicly available information from the IRS, the Federal Reserve and more.
