Clinton Charities Will Refile 5 Annual Tax Returns, May Audit For Other Errors - Reuters/HuffPo

[WillyT]

Clinton Charities Will Refile 5 Annual Tax Returns, May Audit For Other Errors
Reuters | By Jonathan Allen
Posted: 04/23/2015 1:00 am EDT Updated: 04/23/2015 2:59 am EDT

<snip>

NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton's family's charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after a Reuters review found errors in how they reported donations from governments, and said they may audit other Clinton Foundation returns in case of other errors.

The foundation and its list of donors have been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. Republican critics say the foundation makes Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, vulnerable to undue influence. Her campaign team calls these claims "absurd conspiracy theories."

The charities' errors generally take the form of under-reporting or over-reporting, by millions of dollars, donations from foreign governments, or in other instances omitting to break out government donations entirely when reporting revenue, the charities confirmed to Reuters.

The errors, which have not been previously reported, appear on the form 990s that all non-profit organizations must file annually with the Internal Revenue Service to maintain their tax-exempt status. A charity must show copies of the forms to anyone who wants to see them to understand how the charity raises and spends money.

The unsettled numbers on the tax returns are not evidence of wrongdoing but tend to undermine the 990s role as a form of public accountability, experts in charity law and transparency advocates interview told Reuters.

"If those numbers keep changing - well, actually, we spent this on this, not that on that - it really defeats the purpose," said Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency advocacy group.

For three years in a row beginning in 2010, the Clinton Foundation reported to the IRS that it received zero in funds from foreign and U.S. governments, a dramatic fall-off from the tens of millions of dollars in foreign government contributions reported in preceding years.

Those entries were errors, according to the foundation: several foreign governments continued to give tens of millions of dollars toward the foundation's work on climate change and economic development through this three-year period. Those governments were identified on the foundation's annually updated donor list, along with broad indications of how much each had cumulatively given since they began donating.

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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/23/clinton-charities-taxes_n_7123524.html

[MannyGoldstein]

1. TaxReturnGhazi!!!

LOL!

[Autumn]

8. Oh that's funny

I got audited once, it sucked. I bet their foundations receipt folder is way bigger than mine.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Oh come on, nothing to see here.

Doesn't everyone make tens of millions of dollar errors on their tax forms each year?

[hedda_foil]

6. Absolutely. Remember Romney? Both sides do it. This is no big deal.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Not the Clintons, their foundation...

That's a huge difference as the latter is dealing with so much money and their taxes are consequently more complex.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. That's what they get for getting their taxes done by "Big Joe's Toaster Repair and Tax Service".

[tularetom]

4. I really don't want to go through four years of this crap

And yes, I know we've just been through seven years of it with Obama, but it never seems quite as bad with him because the accusations are just so outlandish and unbelievable and also because he has the dignity and self confidence not to react to it.

Unlike Obama, Hillary Clinton lacks the poise to ignore the bullshit. She'll have to react to and deny every allegation of corruption or impropriety, and there will be many. And once they see that they can get under her skin, they'll just double down on the hints and rumors.

Again, unlike Obama, the Clintons have been involved with some fairly dodgy characters. There's just enough there to make uninformed people believe that there might be something to the allegations.

I think we're in for a bumpy ride. Buy stock in Newscorp, you'll get rich during a Clinton administration.

[jwirr]

9. It is not so much that we think they have done something wrong. It is more what the Rs can

make of this. How many voters can they convince that she and Bill are nothing but crooks? All these little errors are going to be used to defeat her if they can. I hope they do not succeed. But remember what they did to John Kerry a Vietnam veteran.

I think we are all going to have a nervous breakdown before this is over.

[Autumn]

10. That's why I loved her as SOS, I didn't have to defend her.

Defending her against attacks during her 8 years as First Lady and then as candidate Clinton the last time wore me out. I don't want to hear the BS attacks from the media and the pukes anymore. We are always playing defense where the Clinton's are concerned and I have a lot of respect for both of them but I don't want to play this game anymore.

[Dems to Win]

5. The Clinton Foundation received millions from investors as Putin took over 20% of US uranium deposit

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-clintons-putin-and-uranium-2015-4

Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation as Russians Pressed for Control of Uranium Company

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?_r=1

Bill Clinton Cashed In When Hillary Became Secretary of State

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bill-clinton-cashed-hillary-secretary-state/story?id=30522705#.VTkO_8GhEYc.twitter

After his wife became Secretary of State, former President Bill Clinton began to collect speaking fees that often doubled or tripled what he had been charging earlier in his post White House years, bringing in millions of dollars from groups that included several with interests pending before the State Department, an ABC News review of financial disclosure records shows.

Where he once had drawn $150,000 for a typical address in the years following his presidency, Clinton saw a succession of staggering paydays for speeches in 2010 and 2011, including $500,000 paid by a Russian investment bank and $750,000 to address a telecom conference in China.

“It’s unusual to see a former president’s speaking fee go up over time,” said Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer in the White House Counsel’s office under President George W. Bush. “I must say I’m surprised that he raised his fees. There’s no prohibition on his raising it. But it does create some appearance problems if he raises his fee after she becomes Secretary of State.”

[LondonReign2]

11. I misread the headline as "Clinton Will Raffle Annual Tax Returns for Charity"

which I thought would be really clever.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. Why is there never any discussions of the good the foundation does?/NT

[LondonReign2]

13. Not sure why you are asking me, I didn't even read the headline correctly

[NCTraveler]

14. The people on our side do great things when they leave office.

Look at the Clintons and Carters. Great people wanting to make things better. Then look at the Bush clan. Thank god he is learning to paint.

[Jesus Malverde]

15. bump...nt