Mitt Romney Could Recoup Extra Tax Payments After Election With Amended Return

[Bill USA]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/21/mitt-romney-tax-return_n_1904573.html?ref=topbar

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Friday announced that he will not take all the charitable deductions to which he was entitled for his 2011 taxes, in order to keep his tax return from falling below a threshold that would falsify an earlier assertion that he'd never paid lower than a 13 percent tax rate.

"The Romneys’ generous charitable donations in 2011 would have significantly reduced their tax obligation for the year. The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor's statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years," his trustee Brad Malt said in a note accompanying the return.

The choice to not take the deduction allowed Romney to inflate his tax rate to 14.1 percent. The difference between his charitable giving of more than $4 million and his claimed deductions of $2.25 million increased his tax bill by several hundred thousand dollars, as he paid taxes he didn't have to on nearly two million dollars.

Luckily for Romney, after the election he can recoup that money. If the American people reject him at the polls in November -- and even if they don't -- Romney would be fully within his legal rights to file an amended return, requiring the Treasury to cut him a substantial check.
<more>