On Wednesday, April 20, the Senate Finance Committee approved provisions put forward by Sen. Chuck Grassley to fix IRS whistleblower treatment and improve taxpayer rights.
“The IRS needs to put out the welcome mat for tax fraud whistleblowers, not treat them like skunks at a picnic,” Grassley said. “With congressional oversight, the IRS has done a better job of whistleblower treatment than before but it still needs to communicate more with whistleblowers. These individuals are less likely to come forward if they know they might be in the dark about their case for years at a time. Also, employer retaliation of whistleblowers is a barrier. The provisions approved today will help with these problems.”
Grassley has a long record of protecting taxpayer rights. Most recently, Grassley and Sen. John Thune introduced the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Enhancement Act of 2015. Several provisions from their bill received Finance Committee approval today as part of the chairman’s Taxpayer Protection Act of 2016.
The Grassley-Wyden, Grassley or Grassley-Thune measures approved by the Finance Committee are:
- Improving communications with IRS whistleblowers.
- Protecting tax fraud whistleblowers from employer retaliation.
- Notification of unauthorized inspection or disclosure of returns and return information.
- Extend time limit for contesting an IRS levy.
- Individuals held harmless on improper levy on retirement plans.
- Electronic record retention.
- Mandatory e-filing by exempt organizations.
- A study of problems with IRS use of offers in compromise.
- Improved access to appeals.
You can learn more about these improvements here.