U.S. President Donald Trump is unlikely hand over his tax returns to lawmakers despite a Tuesday congressional deadline facing the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday.

"As I understand it, the president's pretty clear: Once he's out of audit, he'll think about doing it, but he's not inclined to do so at this time," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told Fox News in an interview.

Rep. Richard Neal, Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, requested six years of Trump's individual and business returns on April 3 and has set a final deadline of 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on Tuesday, informing IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in a letter that failure to comply would be viewed as a denial.