2013 Ferraro 500 list ranks Uncertain Tax Positions
We released the Ferraro 500 today. The Ferraro 500 is a reorganization of the Fortune 500 by the size of the companies' Unrecognized Tax Benefit reserve ("Tax Reserve") for uncertain tax positions reported in SEC filings. The 2013 Ferraro 500 showed that...
What’s the biggest threat to IRS Whistleblower claims?
I bet that every person reading this blog - people with an interest in the IRS Whistleblower Program - has seen that the IRS has been under fire this summer due to the exempt organization application processing scandal, and is wondering how this situation impacts...
Whistleblower Prevails On Discovery Motion In Tax Court
An order issued yesterday by the U.S. Tax Court in the case of Albert G. Hill, III v. Commisioner of Internal Revenue (No. 25539-10W) gave the Whistleblower (who is the Petitioner in the case) access to documents in the administrative file of the taxpayer who was the...
Increase in the number of insufficient concise descriptions on 2011 Schedule UTPs despite fewer taxpayers filing Schedule UTP.
From the first mention of Schedule UTP, we felt that taxpayers would provide the minimum information required by the instructions and other published guidance for Schedule UTP. And it looks like this is what has happened. According to an article in Tax...
The Whistleblower Office Reissues Interim Guidance from June, 2012.
Last year we wrote about several welcomed memoranda issued by the IRS Whistleblower Office on June 7, 2013. These memoranda outlined temporary changes and expired a year after issuance. The new memoranda are simply reissuances of the memoranda that were...
IRS declines Joseph Insinga’s claims, potentially avoiding a negative precedent.
Joseph Insinga’s case has been watched closely from the time the petition was filed to see if the Tax Court would assert jurisdiction over a case where the IRS had not issued a formal determination but had allowed the claim to linger, causing a de facto denial...
IRS Whistleblower Representatives Present Comments at Public Hearing on Proposed Treasury Regulations.
A congratulations and a thank you to Erica Brady, who yesterday spoke on behalf of The Ferraro Law Firm’s clients at the public hearing on the Proposed Treasury Regulations that outline how the IRS will interpret section 7623. Erica joined other...
Base Erosion and Profit Shifting: Why Corporate Tax Receipts are in the Toilet Despite Rising Profits
I saw an interesting article today by the President and Publisher of Tax Analysts in which he drew attention to the role of tax professionals in the growing crisis over reduced corporate tax receipts in a time of record corporate profits. He focused his...
Whistleblowers in Quandary Over Potential Whipsaw
The IRS has spent much time ensuring that they would not be whipsawed by paying an award on proceeds that is ultimately refunded to the taxpayer, but apparently, little consideration has been given to what happens when the IRS whipsaws a whistleblower using their...
IRS Says that Sequestration Will Mean Reduced Award Payments.
On March 4, the IRS announced through a two-paragraph statement posted to its website, that under the automatic sequester cuts, any section 7623 whistleblower awards paid between March 1, 2013, and September 30, 2013, will be reduced by a “sequestration...
Ferraro Law Firm’s Comments on the Proposed Whistleblower Regs.
Earlier this week we filed our comments to Prop. Treas. Reg. sections 301.6103(h)(4)-1, 301.7623-1; 301.7623-2, 301.7623-3, and 301.7623-4 with the Treasury Department. In summary, our specific comments, organized by their corresponding section of the Proposed...
IRS Whistleblower Office Releases its Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2012
The IRS Whistleblower Office made leaps forward in fiscal year 2012. Fiscal year 2012 marked the year that the IRS made a $104 million payment to Bradley Birkenfeld, which is believed to be the largest award paid to a single whistleblower. This was one of...
Just in Time for the New Year…New Proposed Regulations
Proposed Treasury Regulations for the IRS whistleblower program were released on December 14, 2012. These regulations cover many issues and deserve a complete reading; however, below is a short outline of what each section of the proposed regulations covers....
IRS says whistleblower law a “game changer” in their efforts to combat offshore evasion.
Tax practitioners and government officials recently came together at the American Bar Association International Tax Enforcement Conference in New York to discuss international tax enforcement rules and procedures. Among the topics of discussion was the federal...
Eleventh Circuit sends a reminder that whistleblowers must follow the proscribed procedure in order to have their claim for an award.
The Eleventh Circuit released Ware v. Commissioner, an unpublished opinion, in which the Eleventh Circuit upheld the Tax Court’s dismissal of the pro se taxpayers’ request for redetermination of their tax liability and their whistleblower claim. The...
IRS Whistleblower Awarded $38 Million.
We are excited to share some good news … the IRS has awarded $38,037,899 to one of our clients for providing information about a tax avoidance scheme perpetrated by one of the nation’s largest corporations. We respect our client’s wishes...
The Tax Court continues to define the boundaries of its jurisdiction to review whistleblower cases.
The Tax Court dismissed a whistleblower’s complaint that challenged the IRS’s decision not to act on the whistleblower’s information. In Raymond Cohen v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 139 T.C. No. 12 (October 9, 2012), the Tax Court holds...
TIGTA Reports that the Process for Individuals to Self-Report Suspected Tax Law Violations is Not Efficient or Effective.
IRS to Seek Protective Orders to Prevent Nonparty Taxpayer Information from Being Redisclosed.
As discussed in an earlier blog post, the Tax Court formally adopted amendments to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure on July 6, 2012. The amendments rules include Rule 345, which provides that a whistleblower may proceed anonymously by redacting the...
UBS Whistleblower gets paid $104 million award from IRS.
Congratulations to Brad Birkenfeld for receiving a $104 million award from the IRS for turning in UBS for their offshore banking practices. Kudos to Steve Kohn and Dean Zerbe, his counsel since 2009 on this matter. It appears that Birkenfeld’s award...