Whistleblowers and the IRS
On average, there is a $450 billion annual gap between the taxes that are owed to the federal government and the taxes that are actually paid. In theory, those who help the government find those who cheat on taxes and contribute to the shortfall should be the heroes that the federal government wants to reward. After all, the people who underreport income or hide assets can cost the government millions of dollars. At first glance it seems that Congress wanted to create incentives to report potential income tax fraud. Back in December 2006, Congress passed legislation that increased the reward for reporting tax fraud to the heights typically reserved for Qui Tam whistleblowers. During the last five years, potentially $500 million dollars in unreported or falsely deducted corporate and personal income tax could have been recovered thanks to this legislation.
Sadly, only one reward has been given under the new law since 2006. Four and a half million dollars was awarded to a corporate auditor who tried to convince his employer to pay the $20 million in taxes they rightfully owed.
The problem is not a shortage of claims nor is it the quality of the information. The problem appears to come from the IRS itself. In a 2010 interview, former IRS chief Donald Korb had this to say in Tax Notes:
The new whistle-blower provisions Congress enacted a couple of years ago have the potential to be a real disaster for the tax system. I believe that it is unseemly in this country to encourage people to turn in their neighbors and employers to the IRS, as contemplated by this particular program. The IRS didn't ask for these rules; they were forced on it by the Congress.
Such a statement speaks to a great institutional resistance to change, especially change that is, in the words of Korb, "forced on it by Congress."
However, due to decades of case law about "agency deference," the IRS has a great deal of leeway in interpreting just how to implement these new rules forced on it by Congress. Every opportunity that the IRS had to interpret these rules, it chose the path of most resistance. Some examples of problematic guidelines include:
- Narrowed the sources of recovery that are the basis of whistle-blower awards.
- Imposed unprecedented withholding requirements on whistle-blower awards.
- Created roadblocks to IRS interactions with whistle-blowers, such as the 2008 "one-bite" rule (now relaxed) that limited receipt of information to an initial meeting.
- Defined "planners and initiators" of the tax scheme - who by law receive only a reduced award (if any) - in a manner that could block employees whose involvement is far removed from the true architects of a scheme from receiving a reward.
Lawyers who work with such whistleblower claims frequently complain of the "black hole" that seems to consume them before a resolution can be reached. Recently a whistleblower filed suit against the IRS to not only pay him, but also disclose how the information he provided contributed to finding and collecting from those he reported as committing tax fraud.
That a whistle-blower should have to sue an agency to learn how his information helped uncover fraud is the height of absurdity. It's not as if all federal agencies are as recalcitrant - the SEC has been quite amenable to whistleblower information. They understand that citizens who help uncover fraud are allies and not antagonists. There's no need for the IRS to get defensive about citizens "turning in their neighbors" or for attorneys representing whistle-blowers to become demoralized at the complete lack of progress due to some power struggle between Congress and the IRS.
Source:
IRS Keeps Ignoring Whistleblowers, by Richard Lavinthal, published at WashingtonExaminer.com, April 12, 2012.
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