The new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program–and observations by one of the whistleblower lawyer blog attorneys–were featured in an October 15, 2007 article by Nicholas Rummell in Financial Week. Financial Week is a publication geared toward the CFO and other professionals in finance and accounting, with coverage of economics and business markets, regulatory and legislative actions, financing, banking, insurance, real estate, cash management, investment management, benefits and retirement finance, investor relations, accounting and technology.
This article discusses the fast start of the new IRS Whistleblower Program authorized by Congress in December 2007, which our whistleblower attorneys have written about extensively. I had the pleasure of speaking at length with writer Nicolas Rummell about the new IRS program, which is most promising. (The Financial Week article is at http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/REG/71012026.)
Of particular interest was how those in the financial services industry, including hedge funds, have utilized the new IRS Whistleblower Program.
I want to clarify some of the comments attributed to this whistleblower lawyer blog author. In particular, based on comments by those in the Whistleblower Program, the statute of limitations is three years for tax noncompliance or tax violations that do not necessarily amount to tax fraud or tax evasion. It increases to six years if there is an open audit or investigation by the IRS. But for tax fraud or tax evasion, there is no statute of limitations as a matter of law. (We have written about the statute of limitations previously.)
Based on our dealings with the IRS, the new Whistleblower Office is operating with extremely professional and capable officials, who are looking to reward individuals who come forward with useful information about tax noncompliance and violations of the tax laws. We are excited to represent clients in the financial services industry and other industries in the new IRS Whistleblower Program. The new IRS regulations to be released by December 2007, should answer many questions that currently exist about the new IRS program.