Trump admin requests that the IRS rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status (2025)

The Trump administration has requested that a top Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official rescind Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, three people familiar with the situation told The Washington Post Wednesday.

Only the IRS can grant or revoke tax-exempt status, which can be given to many different types of organizations — including colleges and universities. But to keep this status, such organizations must abide by tax laws that bar them from participating in certain political activities.

Experts told The Washington Post there is no evidence that Harvard has violated these laws.

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Jason Newton, Harvard’s Director of Communications, agreed with this assessment in a statement to MassLive Wednesday night, writing that “there is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status.”

“The tax exemption means that more of every dollar can go toward scholarships for students, lifesaving and life-enhancing medical research and technological advancements that drive economic growth,” he wrote.

If the IRS revokes the university’s tax-exempt status — an act Newton called “unprecedented” — it would endanger Harvard’s ability to carry out its “education mission,” he said.

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“It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation,” Newton wrote.

In the 2024 fiscal year, Harvard provided nearly $750 million in financial aid, according to the university.

Additionally, just under a third of Harvard’s research funding — approximately $490 million — comes from the university itself. The other $1 billion that makes up Harvard’s research budget comes from the federal government, various research foundations and private sponsors, according to the university.

• Read more: Trump administration freezes $2B in Harvard funding after university refuses to comply

The U.S. Treasury Department did not respond to a request for confirmation and comment Wednesday evening, but such a move would be the latest escalation in President Trump’s feud with the university.

The Trump administration has demanded increased government control and other changes at Harvard in an attempt to force the university to scale back its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and do more to crack down on antisemitism.

But while Harvard is far from the only university to have drawn the administration’s ire in recent weeks, it alone has publicly said it will not comply with the administration’s demands and in doing so jeopardize its “freedom” and “independence.”

As a result, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding for the university on Tuesday.