IRS Whistleblower Reward Program

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...

The IRS Whistleblower Office Gets Serious With Record Setting Award

By Gordon Schnell In a shot heard round the whistleblower world, the IRS has paid $104 million to former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld for blowing the whistle on the Swiss banking giant's scheme to help thousand of Americans cheat the IRS through secreting their assets in offshore accounts.  This is the scandal that led to the bank's payment of a $780 million fine and to the voluntary disclosure by more than...

The IRS Whistleblower Office -- A New Beginning or Just a Lot of Lip Service

By Gordon Schnell Since its inception in 2007, the IRS Whistleblower Office has been subject to some fairly withering attacks.  And for good reason.  It was supposed to revamp the IRS whistleblower system, encouraging tipsters to flood in and help the government identify all of those tax cheats and their billions of dollars in unpaid taxes each year.  The whistleblowers have certainly done their part.  They...