Donald Trump took $70,000 in tax deductions for hair styling

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Trump spent more than $70,000 on hairstyling during several years of his run on The Apprentice, his reality-TV show. Trump’s production company deducted his hairstyling expenses from its taxable income, reducing its tax bill.

Tax experts said that deducting what is ordinarily considered a personal expense is prohibited under almost any circumstances. And they said such a deduction could potentially constitute criminal tax fraud if the cost of the hairstyling was reimbursed by someone else.

Three former NBC executives involved in The Apprentice told that, while they didn’t recall the exact terms of Trump’s contract, they were very familiar with the way such contracts are typically written. The cost of hair and makeup for a star of Trump’s stature would generally be covered by the show, and Trump would have been reimbursed for any of the costs he incurred.

One of those officials said, I can’t think of any circumstances in which Trump would have paid those costs out of his own pocket and not be reimbursed. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he still does business with NBC and Mark Burnett, the producer of The Apprentice who has also produced The Voice for NBC.

Taxpayers are not allowed to deduct reimbursed business expenses.

Schuyler M. Moore, a tax expert at the law firm Greenberg Glusker in Los Angeles and the author of the legal treatise said, that would be a crime if it’s intentional. Taxation of the Entertainment Industry. In any case, courts have ruled that hairstyling, even for someone on a TV program, is a personal expense that cannot be deducted. (There is no statute of limitations for civil tax fraud. Ordinarily the Internal Revenue Service has three years from the date of a tax filing to begin an audit that can result in criminal charges.)