The revelation about the hotel seems certain to come up when Chuck Rettig testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.
President Donald Trump’s pick to run the IRS, tax lawyer Chuck Rettig, owns properties at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki and Tower.
He’d previously disclosed his 50 percent stake in a pair of Honolulu rental units, but not their specific location. That detail was discussed later, at a June 21 meeting with congressional staff, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO.Trump typically gets fees on sales for licensing his name.
The document was circulated Wednesday to Senate Finance Committee members ahead of their hearing on Rettig’s nomination, scheduled for Thursday.
“The nominee did disclose these properties, but not their location,” the memo said of Rettig’s original answers to financial disclosure questions that ask nominees to list assets and sources of income that exceed $1,000.
The revelation about the Trump-branded hotel seems certain to come up when Rettig testifies.
“Committee staff raised this at the nominee’s June 21st due diligence meeting,” the memo said. “The nominee plans to provide more detail on his Committee Questionnaire to include the full name of the property.”
Rettig bought the properties in 2006 and they were finished in 2009, the memo said.
Rettig also agreed to revisit the need to provide details on the properties with respect to his ethics agreement, or make any appropriate amendments regarding the properties, the memo said.
It also indicated Rettig failed to report interest income or interest expenses related to a personal loan he made to an unnamed family member.
Rettig, who specializes in handling tax controversies for clients of his firm in Beverly Hills, Calif., made three $200,000 loans to the family member in 2014, and the loans were fully repaid this year, according to the memo.
But Rettig failed to record interest income related to the loans on his 2014, 2015 and 2016 tax returns. In addition, no interest expense related to the loans was deducted in 2014 or 2016, but he deducted $17,856 of interest expense in 2015.
Rettig called the loans an informal family matter, according to the memo, and he was unclear whether the funds would be an equity investment in a business that they were meant to finance or repaid as a loan. But in 2015, his family member began repayments.
The funds should have been treated as a loan at that time, with interest income reported and any interest expense deducted, the memo said, and Rettig has agreed to amend his returns.
