Since Congress authorized new awards to IRS whistleblowers in December 2006, we have followed closely the progress of the new IRS Whistleblower Office led by Director Stephen Whitlock.
IRS Whistleblower Office Director Stephen Whitlock has just announced that the IRS Whistleblower Office is preparing to make award determinations on whistleblower claims submitted under the “new” rewards program.
The IRS Whistleblower Office (and no doubt the IRS Chief Counsel’s Office) have been working on “guidance” for determining the amount of awards within the range authorized by law.
We have written extensively on many of the issues that have arisen and will arise in handling IRS Whistleblower claims. Recent multi-million dollar payments apparently relate to claims under the “old” program. Those payments are encouraging signs of the success of the new program, which authorizes a higher range of awards of 15-30% of the recovery by the IRS.
Tax Analysts reported on Director Whitlock’s comments at the recent ABA meeting.
We are encouraged that the steady progress of the IRS Whistleblower Office continues, as this promises to be an extremely successful program to discourage tax cheats. Only meaningful rewards to whistleblowers will accomplish that goal.
Ever since the beginning of the new IRS Whistleblower Program, our whistleblower lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented whistleblowers in the new program. We have represented persons with IRS Whistleblower claims in the hedge fund industry, other financial services industries, real estate, manufacturing, and many other businesses, as tax fraud, tax evasion, and other tax noncompliance are not limited to one area.
Since the late 1980s, our attorneys also have worked with the nation’s other major whistleblower law, the False Claims Act. We have represented whistleblowers who reported fraud and false claims in many government programs, including contractor fraud in Iraq reconstruction, other military contracts, NASA programs, Hurricane Katrina and other disaster relief, and of course Medicare/Medicaid fraud.
For a free consultation about a possible whistleblower claim, please call us at 800-228-9159, or email us HERE.