WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are today introducing the IRS Whistleblower
Program Improvement Act, which would strengthen the Internal Revenue
Service’s (IRS) successful Whistleblower Awards Program. That program has
enabled the agency to collect over $6 billion from wealthy individuals and
businesses caught dodging taxes.
In addition to the $6 billion
directly recovered through the whistleblower program, it has yielded additional
billions from the indirect impact on taxpayer compliance, such as the Offshore
Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). The OVDP was created as a direct result of
actionable information brought to the IRS by whistleblowers.
“The IRS whistleblower program has
been a genuine success for American taxpayers. We ought to do whatever we can
to ensure its continued success, so tax dodgers and fraudsters pay what they
owe. Toward this end, it’s vital that whistleblowers who come forward are
protected and treated fairly,” Grassley said.
“IRS
whistleblowers play a critical role in protecting taxpayer dollars and finding
tax cheats stealing from the American people. It would be far more difficult to
uncover these illegal schemes without their courage, and our bill would
strengthen protections for these brave Americans when they come forward,” Wyden
said.
The IRS Whistleblower Program
Improvement Act includes seven measures to bolster the successful program,
ensure fairness and protect the whistleblowers who come forward. The bill would
provide for De Novo review in appeals heard by the U.S. Tax
Court—allowing for new evidence to be admitted to the record, and establishes a
presumption of anonymity for whistleblowers before the court. The legislation
also exempts whistleblower awards from budget sequestration, provides that
interest be paid to awardees if the award has not been paid within one year, brings
the tax treatment of attorney’s fees into line with other whistleblower
programs, and allows the IRS to retain some proceeds for the administration of
the program. Lastly, it improves the program’s annual report to Congress to
help tax writers identify areas in most need of attention.
The legislation is supported by the National
Whistleblower Center.
“NWC
fully supports the introduction of the IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement
Act. By adopting these important reforms to the successful IRS whistleblower
awards program, Congress will provide a much improved avenue for whistleblowers
who wish to come forward to report evidence of tax fraud. This is a huge step
for whistleblowers and NWC thanks Senator Grassley for his continued efforts to
protect whistleblowers,” National
Whistleblower Center Executive Director Siri Nelson said.
Full
legislative text of the
IRS Whistleblower
Improvement Act can be found
HERE.
A summary of the bill can be found
HERE.
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