Leading up to Tax Day on April 15, whistleblower advocates and a member of Congress spoke about the importance of whistleblowers in effective tax enforcement. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Whistleblower Program offers monetary awards and anti-retaliation protections to individuals reporting large scale tax fraud.
On April 10, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) spoke at a Senate Budget Committee hearing “Sunny Places for Shady People: Offshore Tax Evasion by the Wealthy and Corporations.”
Grassley was a key champion of the 2006 law which modernized the IRS Whistleblower Program and during the hearing he touched on the success of the program noting that it “has brought in over $6 billion to the Treasury.”
“Whether it’s offshore banking schemes, a tangled web of shell companies, or illicit transactions by shady multinational companies, a single whistleblower can bring the whole house of cards crashing down,” said Grassley. “And at less cost and with fewer burdens on innocent taxpayers.”
On April 14, the National Whistleblower Center (NWC) wrote about the IRS Whistleblower Program in their Sunday Read series, touching on the program’s success but also recent challenges which have undermined the program.
“Clearly, reforms are needed to sustain this critical program, which IRS leadership has also acknowledged,” writes NWC.
“The IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act provides common sense reforms to revitalize the Program and ensure it plays a pivotal role in cracking down on tax cheats and closing the tax gap,” NWC continues. “Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced S.625 in 2023.
The six reforms include:
- Provide for De Novo review in appeals heard by the U.S. Tax Court, allowing for new evidence to be admitted to the record;
- Establish a presumption of anonymity for whistleblowers before the court;
- Exempt whistleblower awards from budget sequestration;
- Provide that interest be paid to awardees if the whistleblower award has not been paid within one year of the IRS collecting all proceeds;
- Bring the tax treatment of attorney’s fees into line with other whistleblower programs; and
- Improve the program’s annual report to Congress to help tax writers identify areas in most need of attention.”
NWC sent a letter to Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee urging him to support the inclusion of the whistleblower reform bill as a part of the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, the large bipartisan tax bill currently being negotiated in Congress.
NWC has published an Action Alert allowing whistleblower supporters to write to Congress calling for the passage of the IRS Whistleblower Improvement Act.
Join NWC in Taking Action:
Further Reading:
Grassley Provides Insight On Efforts To Snuff Out Tax Evasion
Sunday Read: Strengthening the IRS Whistleblower Program
Bipartisan Bill Offers Critically-Needed Reforms to IRS Whistleblower Program