IRS Paid $61 Million to Whistleblowers in 2016
Since 2006, the program has paid whistleblowers over $465 million in monetary rewards. In 2016, the office approved 418 rewards, paying out over $61 million to whistleblowers.
Jan. 17, 2017
The Internal Revenue Service’s Whistleblower Office released its annual report documenting the progress of the tax whistleblower program. Among the findings released are:
Since the program’s creation, the Whistleblower Office has directly collected $3.4 billion in revenue from whistleblower disclosure:
- Since 2006, the program has paid whistleblowers over $465 million in monetary rewards;
- In 2016, the office approved 418 rewards, paying out over $61 million to whistleblowers;
- Since 2014 the Whistleblower Office has paid rewards on 1205 claims;
- In FY 2016 13,396 whistleblower reward claims were filed. Currently, there are 29,835 open claims under review within the Whistleblower Office.
“The IRS is making progress, but the long delays in investigating and processing cases hurts the American public and the whistleblower program,” said Stephen M. Kohn, a legal expert on whistleblowing and a partner in the law firm of Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto.
Political officials in the Department of Treasury have been accused of starving the Whistleblower Office, resulting in delays and an unacceptably large backlog. According to Kohn, it is inconceivable that an office that generates billions in income, and is mandated to help whistleblowers has a backlog of 29,835 open cases, and a staff of only 37 employees.”
“The report indicates that the IRS reduced the number of employee’s working on whistleblower cases from 61 to 37. This is completely unacceptable. The office needed to be significantly enlarged, not cut. This sends the wrong message to whistleblowers and is music to the ears of tax cheats,” Kohn added.
Stephen Kohn represented tax whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, who exposed thousands of illegal U.S. accounts held overseas in UBS Switzerland. He obtained the largest individual whistleblower reward in history, $104 million, for turning in the illegal UBS program.
The Whistleblower Office was created under the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 and through Sec. 7623 of the Internal Revenue Code.