IRS Whistleblower Reward Program

IRS Whistleblower Office Issues Delayed and Disappointing Annual Report on Whistleblower Program in Fiscal Year 2021

The IRS Whistleblower Office has released its required Annual Report to Congress, covering fiscal year 2021.  Disappointingly, the report shows a continuing decline in proceeds collected as a result of submissions to the IRS Whistleblower Program and a continuing decline in awards paid to whistleblowers who reported tax fraud under the program. The report itself was submitted four months later than in previous years...

How Congress and the IRS Can Fulfill the Promise of the Tax Whistleblower Program

Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Michael Ronickher wrote on the Taxpayers Against Fraud blog about three key changes the IRS could make to help its whistleblower program reach its full potential. The program, which provides rewards of 15-30% of the funds collected by the IRS because of a tip, is undeniably important. As Mike wrote, “Since 2007, the IRS has recovered $6.14 billion based on information from...

Top Ten Tax Recoveries for 2021

Our top tax recoveries for 2021 total over $7 billion, an impressive number that is due largely to just one of our top ten tax recoveries. Tax evaders were creative last year, utilizing offshore banking, good old tax fraud, and forum shopping for an accounting opinion that fits—all with the intention of cheating the IRS and, in return, the taxpaying public. IRS Criminal Investigation flexed its muscles and went...

What Maryland can Learn from the IRS on the State’s New Tax Program: Ari Yampolsky and Michael Ronickher in the Washington Post

Opening with the warning “tax cheats beware,” Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorneys Ari Yampolsky and Michael Ronickher published an opinion piece in the Washington Post detailing the provisions of Maryland’s new tax whistleblower reward program, which covers state and county tax fraud and underpayments. While New York has long allowed whistleblowers to use its state False Claims Act to bring tax claims,...

Want to Fix the Trillion Dollar Tax Gap? How Whistleblowers Can Help

Earlier this month, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles P. Rettig testified before the Senate Finance Committee, addressing the 2021 filing season and the “21st Century IRS.”  At the hearing, Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) raised the topic of the tax gap, referring to the difference between the total taxes that are legally owed, and the total taxes that are paid by individuals and entities. ...

Watch Now: Eric Havian Joins OffshoreAlert Panel with SEC, CFTC, and IRS Whistleblower Officials on Rewards for Domestic and Foreign Whistleblowers

For the third year in a row, Constantine Cannon partner Eric Havian participated in OffshoreAlert’s annual conference, vGlobal, speaking on a panel with senior leaders of the whistleblower programs at the SEC, CFTC, and IRS.  The panel, which you can watch below, “Rewarding Domestic & Foreign Whistleblowers: The Growth & Spreading Reach of U.S. Programs,” addressed the international reach of the U.S....

Top Ten Tax Recoveries of 2020

Tax fraud and tax evasion, unfortunately, continued apace last year.  Yet even in the face of waning tax resources, enforcement authorities chalked up some key wins in 2020. Criminal recoveries tend to dominate the headlines because many of the biggest tax recoveries are not public: the IRS scrupulously protects taxpayer privacy, and no announcements are made for civil tax recoveries.  Thus only those that result...

IRS Makes its 2020 Whistleblower Report to Congress: Mandatory Awards Hold Steady, but Long Delays Continue

2020 proved to be a difficult year for most people, but within the tumult of the year the IRS Whistleblower Office continued to work and on December 29, 2020 provided its annual report to Congress (for fiscal year ending September 30, 2020). The report showed a mixed bag of success and difficulties in addressing tax fraud and awarding whistleblowers. The IRS Whistleblower Office made 169 awards to whistleblowers in...

D.C. Council Passes Amendment that Expands D.C. False Claims Act to Cover Tax Fraud

The D.C. Council has passed, by veto-proof majority, an amendment to its False Claims Act that expands the scope of the Act to cover tax fraud claims. The amended D.C. FCA will cover tax fraud claims against people and entities that file taxes in D.C., report at least $1 million in income, and understate their tax liability or seek a tax refund resulting in damages of $350,000 or more.  D.C. joins New York and Guam,...

Proposed Changes to NY FCA Tax Provisions Rattle Potential Tax Fraudsters

New York is one of several states that has provisions in its state False Claims Act (“NY FCA”) allowing whistleblower (or qui tam) suits for violations of the state’s tax laws. On August 3, 2020 (Senate) and October 7, 2020 (Assembly), the New York state legislature, introduced bills proposing revisions to the NY FCA’s tax provisions.

The Proposed Legislation

The Senate bill’s accompanying memorandum...