Joe Biden faced an IRS tax AUDIT when he was VP

A White House lawyer sent Hunter Biden and his business partner emails about then-Vice President Joe Biden’s taxes, calling into question the president’s claim that he had no financial link to his son.

Counsel to the Vice President Cynthia Hogan sent Hunter and his Rosemont Seneca consultancy business partner Eric Schwerin an email in March 2010 discussing issues with Joe’s IRS returns.

The document is the latest in a string of shocking evidence revealed by DailyMail.com of the deeply intertwined finances of the president and his son, who is under federal investigation related to his business dealings.

This site has previously published emails showing Schwerin was handling Joe’s tax returns and managing his bills. But it does not explain why Hunter was also copied on Hogan’s email about Joe’s taxes.

Hunter Biden could soon face federal indictment for alleged tax crimes – but Hogan’s message also shows that Joe got into hot water with the US Treasury over his 2008 tax filing, even requiring White House lawyers to get involved.

Hogan’s message revealed Joe had received a ‘tax audit letter’ from the IRS regarding his 2008 filing, with questions over his claim that he was ‘not required to pay self-employment tax’.

‘I spoke to Walter [Deyhle, Joe’s accountant] yesterday to review what materials he will present and to review our rationale and reliance on IRS revenue rulings in determining that the VP was not required to pay self-employment tax,’ Hogan wrote.

‘He will contact the IRS agent and present this information and report back to us.’

The IRS sends an ‘audit letter’ when they have unanswered questions about a filing – and if accountants can’t immediately satisfy tax collectors then it can lead to a full-blown audit.

Other emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop previously published by DailyMail.com show Schwerin handled Joe’s taxes for years.

But it is unclear why Hunter was copied on the accounting discussions for the then-VP with his government lawyer – especially as Joe has repeatedly denied ever discussing Hunter’s business dealings with him.

Schwerin met with Joe at the White House at least 19 times, according to Obama administration visitor logs, and was handling the VP’s financial affairs at the same time as working with Hunter on his foreign business dealings in Ukraine and China.

Those business dealings are currently part of an investigation by federal prosecutors into potential money laundering, foreign lobbying and tax crimes by the First Son.

The president has not been named as a person of interest in the FBI probe, but DailyMail.com has uncovered extensive evidence linking him to Hunter’s business affairs.

Emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop indicate Joe and Hunter paid each other’s bills throughout the period Hunter was making suspect deals with foreign oligarchs and America’s adversaries.

Last year John Cassara, a former US Intelligence Officer and Treasury Special Agent who is an expert in money laundering investigations, told DailyMail.com that were Joe not president, he would probably be in prosecutors’ crosshairs by now along with his son.

‘The information available publicly is very worrisome, particularly in the areas of corruption,’ Cassara said.

‘This kind of thing should not be happening. It undermines full faith in the US government. It undermines trust and our international reputation. It’s an embarrassment.’

Hunter complained that ‘half’ of his salary went to paying his father’s bills while he was VP, casting doubt on Joe’s previous claims that he’s never benefited from his son’s business dealings.

In a 2019 text to his daughter Naomi, he wrote: ‘I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years.

‘It’s really hard. But don’t worry, unlike Pop [Joe], I won’t make you give me half your salary.’

Bills Hunter paid for Joe included a $190-a-month AT&T phone bill for several phone lines that the then-VP used, apparently circumventing White House security protocols.

Texts show Joe only started paying for the discrete phone lines himself in 2017, after he left office.

In 2018 texts with his assistant, Hunter complained that he had been shut out of his own bank account and that his father had been using ‘lines on this account’.

‘Too many cooks in the kitchen. Too many profile changes and such. Happened 10 days ago too,’ Hunter texted to Rosemont Seneca assistant Katie Dodge.

‘My dad has been using most lines on this account which I’ve through the gracious offerings of Eric have paid for past 11 years.’

From 2017, texts show Joe offered to pay Hunter’s bills for his children including school and medical fees, and even agreed to pay Hunter’s legal fees for his deal with a Chinese government-controlled company, according to one email. 

A January 2019 email from Dodge, which listed $737,130.61 of bills including the China deal legal fees, said: ‘I spoke with Hunter today regarding his bills. It is my understanding that Hunt’s dad will cover these bills in the short-term as Hunter transitions in his career.’

A report by right-wing research group Marco Polo on the laptop material, obtained by DailyMail.com, highlights the conversations about Joe’s bills and claims that they could constitute substantial undeclared gifts and income by the president.

‘There was effectively one pot of money for the clan, and Joe was free to withdraw as much as necessary,’ said the report, authored by Marco Polo founder and former Trump White House staffer Garrett Ziegler.

‘Schwerin controlled bank accounts that were capitalized by Hunter’s firm (which was funded, in part, by foreign oligarchs). These accounts—with Schwerin as the front man—were used to pay bills, large and small, for ‘JRB’ [Joe].’

At the time, Hunter had also been working on a plan to start a lucrative Washington DC consultancy with his father when he left office.

He even considered joining up with former FBI director Louis Freeh whose clients included the corrupt Malaysian former prime minister and a Romanian businessman convicted in a bribery case.

Schwerin alluded to the money-making plans in a July 2010 email to Hunter.

‘Your Dad just called me about his mortgage,’ he wrote. ‘So it dawned on me it might be a good time [for] some positive news about his future earnings potential.’

In April this year DailyMail.com uncovered anomalies in Joe Biden’s financial filings.

The president declared almost $7million more income on his tax returns than he did on his Office of Government Ethics transparency reports between 2017 and 2020.

Some of that difference can be accounted for with salaries earned by First Lady Jill Biden and other sums not required on his reports – but still leaves $5.2million earned by Joe’s company CelticCapri Corp, and not listed on his transparency reports.

The ‘missing millions’ – combined with emails on Hunter’s abandoned laptop suggesting Joe would have a 10 per cent share in Hunter’s blockbuster deal with the Chinese – raise a troubling question: did Joe Biden receive money from the foreign venture?

In a now-infamous email sent by Hunter’s business partner James Gilliar in May 2017, it was suggested 10% of the equity in their joint venture with Chinese oil giant CEFC would be ‘held by H for the big guy’.

Another partner in the deal, Tony Bobulinski, has claimed that the message meant Hunter would secretly hold the shares for his father, who was involved in the deal.

Several other emails on Hunter’s laptop refer to Joe as ‘the big guy’.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment in April about the financial anomalies in Joe’s filings.