The US Tax Whistleblower Program has been in place for two decades and has shown the effectiveness of whistleblowers in uncovering and prosecuting international tax evasion. In that time, the IRS Whistleblower Office collected over $7 billion in unpaid taxes and paid $1.3 billion in rewards to tax whistleblowers.[1] The IRS Whistleblower Office’s most notable success was with the whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, who provided information to the IRS that led to the prosecution of the Swiss bank UBS and was awarded of $104 million.[2] The success of Birkenfeld and the UBS prosecution proved that Swiss banks were not beyond the reach of US whistleblowers.
Following the highly successful example of the IRS Whistleblower Office, the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) recently implemented a Strengthened Reward Scheme. This program offers rewards of 15-30% to whistleblowers who provide information on tax avoidance that results in a successful collection of at least £1.5 million in tax.[3] It is estimated that “$21 to $32 trillion in financial assets are sitting offshore in tax havens.”[4] A report by Royal United Services Institute (“RUSI”) Fellow Eliza Lockhart found that these reward programs are both highly effective and cost-efficient because they incentivize whistleblowers with rewards paid from the money they help recover.[5] Whistleblowing, then, becomes an important part of an effective anticorruption system by making it a practical economic choice.
The UK’s HMRC tax informers’ program is the first step toward recognizing the grave need for tax whistleblowers worldwide. Because most tax evasion is international, with funds hidden in foreign tax havens, proper detection requires information that authorities can obtain only through international whistleblowers in those countries. Every country has a need for whistleblowers to help expose tax evasion, with an estimate of “$427 billion is tax [] lost every year to tax havens,”[6] indicating the necessity of whistleblower incentives for tax
A webinar on February 9, 2026, will explain how whistleblowers and professionals can use the new HMRC Strengthened Rewards Scheme. Experts from HMRC, RUSI, and top international tax whistleblower lawyers will discuss the UK’s new whistleblower reward program. The panel will cover how the program works, who is eligible, and how whistleblowers can stay safe while improving their chances of getting a reward.
[1] IRS Whistleblower Office Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report, Publication 5241, Department of the Treasury, at 5 (2024), https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5241.pdf.
[2] David Kocieniewski, Whistle-Blower Awarded $104 Million by I.R.S., NYT, (Sept. 11, 2012), https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/business/whistle-blower-awarded-104-million-by-irs.html.
[3] Reporting Serious Tax Avoidance or Evasion, GOV.UK (Nov. 26, 2025), https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reporting-serious-tax-avoidance-or-evasion#who-could-get-a-reward.
[4] How Much Money Is in Tax Havens? Tax Justice Network, https://taxjustice.net/faq/how-much-money-is-in-tax-havens/ (last visited Jan. 20, 2025).
[5] Eliza Lockhart, The Inside Track: The Role of Financial Rewards for Whistleblowers in the Fight Against Economic Crime, SOC ACE Research Paper No. 31 (2024), https://static1.squarespace.com/static/63e4aef3ae07ad445eed03b5/t/6756cfd024f33859fb718888/1733742545613/SOC-ACE-RP31_Whistleblowing-Dec+24.pdf.
[6] How Much Money Is in Tax Havens? Tax Justice Network, https://taxjustice.net/faq/how-much-money-is-in-tax-havens/ (last visited Jan. 20, 2025).
