Archive

Record Period for Whistleblower Recoveries

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team We are supposed to be in the lazy days of summer.  But it has been anything but in the world of whistleblower recoveries under the False Claims Act.  This is the statute that allows whistleblowers to (i) bring a lawsuit on the government’s behalf for any fraud or misconduct that caused the government to suffer a financial loss, and (ii) obtain between 15 and 30 percent of...

IRS Whistleblower Report to Congress Signals a Brighter Future

By Marlene Koury (published in AccountingWEB) The IRS Whistleblower Office recently released its annual report to Congress reflecting a pretty good year, with hope for a better year to come.  The IRS reported that in fiscal year 2015, it made 99 awards to whistleblowers totaling more than $103 million – more than double the amount of money it awarded whistleblowers in the previous year. The apparent success...

GAO Finds Widespread Problems In The IRS Whistleblower Program

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Since 2011, the IRS whistleblower office has collected almost two billion in unpaid taxes and has awarded over $315 million to whistleblowers.  The apparent success of the program, however, is tempered by widespread problems in the timeliness and accuracy of providing awards, the lack of clear communication and claim review procedures, and a failure to provide protections...

In Their Own Words — Grassley

-- "We all need to make sure the IRS puts out a welcome mat for whistleblowers."

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), on yesterday's report from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office finding major failings in the IRS Whistleblower Program and the need for the IRS to "step[] up its work."  Click here for more.

In Their Own Words -- Burns

-- “THE AGENCY IS BUREAUCRATIC, MYOPIC, AND NOT LEVERAGING WHISTLEBLOWER INFORMATION AND PRIVATE LEGAL RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE MISSION SUCCESS.”

Patrick Burns of Taxpayers Against Fraud discussing the IRS whistleblower program.

IRS Releases Another Report on Whistleblower Program

By Jason Enzler The Internal Revenue Service just released its annual report to Congress regarding its whistleblower program – and it reveals a program that at first blush is just as disappointing as it was last year.  In fact, a comparison of the two years suggests that the IRS whistleblower program may even have become less effective than it was previously. For example, in FY 2013, the IRS received over...

New IRS Whistleblower Rules Receive a “Mixed Review”

By Jason Enzler The Internal Revenue Service issued final rules for the IRS whistleblower program yesterday.  Under the new rules, some government employees may now qualify as whistleblowers, and whistleblower bounties may be larger in some cases.  But the rules will not permit whistleblowers to receive awards when the government uses their information to secure recoveries through criminal tax proceedings. The...

A Disappointing Whistleblower Report from the IRS

By Marlene Koury The IRS recently released its Annual Report to Congress on its whistleblower program and the results are discouraging even for an agency that has a questionable track record when it comes to dealing with whistleblowers.  Despite having received more tips than ever – over nine thousand of them -- the IRS paid only $53 million to whistleblowers in 2013.  This is a sharp drop from the $125 million...

Interview with Randy Fox, New York’s Whistleblower Chief, on New York as an Alternative to the IRS for Tax Whistleblowers

By Marlene Koury Whistleblower Insider interviewed Randy M. Fox, Bureau Chief of the Taxpayer Protection Bureau at the New York Attorney General’s Office, about the recent tax fraud case against the famous New York tailor, Mohanbhai “Mohan” Ramchandani, and the good work Mr. Fox’s office is doing under the New York False Claims Act. The Mohan case is the first resolution of a tax case brought under the...

A Tale of Two Whistleblower Offices -- The Very Different Approaches of the SEC and IRS

By Gordon Schnell By now, we all have heard about the $104 million awarded to former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld for blowing the whistle on the Swiss banking giant's scheme to help thousands of Americans use offshore accounts to cheat the IRS.  See The IRS Whistleblower Office Gets Serious With Record Setting Award.  It was the largest whistleblower award on record and particularly notable as it came from an...