On July 6, 2015 the Internal Revenue Service’s Whistleblower Office released its Report to Congress for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014.
According to the report, in 2014 the Whistleblower Office received more claim submissions than in any other year. The total claims received in 2014 were 14,365, an increase of 3,845 compared to FY 2013.
The IRS paid 101 awards to whistleblowers totaling $52,281,628. However, reductions in expenditures required by sequestration reduced the whistleblower award payments in 2014 by $3,764,722. The total award amount, before sequestration, represented 16.9% of the total amount IRS collected as a result of whistleblowers’ claims.
“The report provides a useful overview of the IRS whistleblower program. Of particular interest are the tables highlighting the different steps in a whistleblower submission – it is certainly not a program built for speed,” stated Dean Zerbe, the Senior Policy Advisor of the National Whistleblower Center. “However, the report highlights that the whistleblower program continues to expand and grow and is providing much valued information to the IRS. It is clear though that the IRS is only just beginning to scratch the surface in terms of what can be accomplished with the IRS whistleblower and much more can and should be done by the administration to work with tax whistleblowers,” Zerbe added.
Read the full report: Whistleblower Program Fiscal Year 2014 Report to Congress