Chance of being audited lowest in modern times – unless there is an IRS Whistleblower.
Tom Herman had an interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal about the low chance of getting audited by the IRS. It was nice to see Tom back to writing for the Journal, he used to be the WSJ Tax Report columnist and covered IRS whistleblowing. Tom starts...
Recent Tax Court case addressed a whistleblower’s motion to proceed anonymously.
The ability to remain anonymous throughout the administrative and judicial whistleblower award determination an appeal processes has been a common theme in the concerns that we hear from clients and something that I spoke about on a panel at the ABA Section of...
IRS Releases 2017 Dirty Dozen Tax Scams
The IRS today announced the conclusion of its annual list of the "Dirty Dozen" tax scams. The list is published each year by the IRS as a way to both inform and warn taxpayers about the most common tax schemes they may encounter especially during filing season....
New Treasury Secretary Confirmed; What that Means to Tax Whistleblowers.
In our experience the IRS is a peculiarly apolitical organization – despite the Lerner email scandal and the targeting of conservative groups for noncompliant tax exempt status claims, almost every position in the IRS is not motivated by or responsive to political...
The Ferraro Law Firm Represented 22% of All 7623(b) Tax Whistleblower Awards Paid by the IRS in 2016.
The IRS released the IRS Whistleblower Program Fiscal 2016 Annual Report to Congress recently. There were some interesting statistical revelations, some surprising and some not. Among the more important, if not surprising, takeaways was the fact that nearly 60%...
DOJ Tax Division is interested in whistleblower information, but risks of disclosure should be discussed with counsel prior to disclosure.
Caroline Ciraolo, Principle Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice Tax Division, made clear the importance of whistleblower counsel while speaking at the American Bar Association’s National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud and Institute on Tax...
Another Treasury Report released about the IRS Whistleblower Program
Today the Treasury Inspector General released a Report titled "The Whistleblower Program Helps Identify Tax Noncomplicane; However, Improvements Are Needed to Ensure That Claims Are Processed Appropriately and Expeditiously" about the IRS Whistleblower Program. ...
IRS Releases an Overview of the Whistleblower Claims Process.
Today the IRS Whistleblower Office released a 3-page overview of the tax whistleblower process called Publication 5251 - The Whistleblower Claim Process. The new publication purports to provide clarity on: What qualifies for an award How whistleblowers submit a...
Tax Court: “The term ‘collected proceeds’ means all proceeds collected by the Government from the taxpayer.”
The Tax Court’s opinion in Whistleblower 21276-13W v. Commissioner, 147 T.C. No. 4 (2016), was a clear and decisive win for whistleblowers. The IRS has long been improperly trying to limit what should be included in “collected proceeds” and...
Tax Reserves continue to remain stable over time despite cuts to IRS budget and Schedule UTP.
We began reordering the Fortune 500 based on uncertain tax positions reported in the most recent 10-K filed before June 15th of that year in 2010, the same year that the IRS announced that it was planning to require that certain business taxpayers to report uncertain...
Tax Court Rules that FBAR penalties are not “additional amounts” under section 7623(b)(5)(B).
Today the Tax Court released its opinion in Whistleblower 22716-13W v. Commissioner, holding that FBAR civil penalties are not “additional amounts” within the meaning of section 7623(b)(5)(B), and they are not “assessed, collected, … [or] paid...
IRS Enforcement Numbers Still Declining According to 2015 Report
The 2015 IRS Enforcement and Service Report issued this week reveals that both individual and corporate audit rates are declining, with the respective audit rates at a record low .84% and .60% of returns filed. This not only leaves tax dollars on the table for...
IRS Releases 2016 Dirty Dozen
The IRS released its “Dirty Dozen” list of the worst tax scams of the year this month. The list is published each year by the IRS as a way to inform and warn taxpayers about the most common tax schemes they encounter during tax season. While...
Whistleblower Office Releases 2015 Annual Report to Congress
Today the IRS Whistleblower Office released their Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2015. According to the report, which has been substantially made-over in both appearance and content, the total amount of awards paid in fiscal 2015 was $103,486,677...
Taxpayer Advocate advocates for improvements to the IRS Whistleblower Office
Nina Olson, the Taxpayer Advocate, and the staff at the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) work tirelessly to aid taxpayers in resolving issues with how the IRS interacts with taxpayers. Every year the TAS files an annual report to Congress. This year’s...
Whistleblowing to the IRS is a Protected Activity under the Sarbanes-Oxley “SOX” Act.
Today we saw another example of an employee (of Viacom) protecting her rights as a tax whistleblower under the Sarbanes-Oxley ("SOX") and Dodd-Frank Acts*. In a nutshell, retaliation against an employee of a company that is subject to these securities laws...
GAO Report: millions of awards paid, much improvement needed
Today the United States Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released a report on the IRS Whistleblower Office titled “IRS WHISTLBLOWER PROGRAM - Billions Collected, but Timeliness and Communication Concerns May Discourage Whistleblowers”...
The lighter side of Uncertain Tax Positions?
From today's Wall Street Journal:
“Even were we to agree with respondent as to the scope of review, he cannot unilaterally decide what constitutes an administrative record.”
The Tax Court’s September 16th opinion echoes what every whistleblower litigating in Tax Court knows; the IRS’s Whistleblower Administrative File is insufficient. The petitioners in this case moved to compel production of documents and responses to...
John Oliver In Defense of IRS, Says Budget Should Be Increased
During the 2015 filing season, John Oliver, the host of HBO's "Last Week Tonight" argued on the program that the IRS is not only a necessary agency with a difficult job to do but is also a smart investment of public money. Oliver makes some great (and funny)...