Trump Sues IRS and Treasury, Seeking At Least $10 Billion Over 2020 Tax-Return Leak

President Donald Trump filed a federal lawsuit in Miami on Thursday seeking at least $10 billion from the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, alleging the agencies enabled the unlawful disclosure of his tax returns, those of his eldest sons, and the Trump Organization.

What the Lawsuit Alleges

The complaint, brought in Mr. Trump's personal capacity and naming Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization as co-plaintiffs, says agency mishandling of confidential taxpayer records led to their improper release to media outlets in 2020. The suit contends the disclosures caused "reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished business reputations, [and] portrayed [the plaintiffs] in a false light."

Background: The Leak And Criminal Case

Prosecutors have said that in 2020 an IRS contractor, Charles Littlejohn, leaked federal tax records to The New York Times and — via a storage device — to ProPublica. Those records were the basis for reporting that Mr. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 (the year he won the presidency) and 2021 (his first full year in office), drawing broad public attention because Mr. Trump had not released his tax returns.

In 2024, Littlejohn was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. Prosecutors said he "abused his position" while working as a contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton and "weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data" for personal or political reasons.

Defendants, Third Parties And Administrative Actions

The lawsuit does not name Booz Allen Hamilton or Littlejohn as defendants. Nevertheless, the Treasury Department recently cited Littlejohn's crimes when it announced the cancellation of all contracts with Booz Allen, accusing the company of failing to maintain adequate safeguards for sensitive taxpayer information accessed under IRS contracts.

Legal Claims And Allegations

Trump's complaint accuses the IRS of making the disclosures "knowingly—or at the very least negligently or with gross negligence" by failing to adopt appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect confidential taxpayer data. A spokesman for Mr. Trump's legal team said the IRS "wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information ... to The New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people."

Neither the IRS nor the Treasury Department immediately responded to requests for comment at the time of filing.

Context: Other Recent Lawsuits

The new suit is the latest in a string of high-profile legal actions by Mr. Trump since returning to office. Earlier this month he sued JPMorgan Chase and CEO Jamie Dimon in Florida state court for $5 billion, alleging the bank closed his accounts in 2021 for political reasons; the bank called the claim meritless. Last fall he sued The New York Times for alleged defamation over reporting on his business career; a federal judge dismissed the initial complaint for excess length and ordered a more concise filing, which his lawyers later submitted. In July, Mr. Trump sued The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion over coverage about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein; the paper pledged to defend itself vigorously.

Key Dates: The leaks occurred in 2020; Littlejohn was sentenced in 2024; the Miami federal lawsuit was filed in 2026.

Outlook: The case is likely to prompt legal battles over government liability for improper disclosures of taxpayer information, possible remedies for plaintiffs, and the scope of agency safeguards for sensitive data. Given parallel criminal convictions and agency contract actions, the litigation may examine both individual wrongdoing and institutional failures.