2012 Ferraro 500 list ranks Uncertain Tax Position Reserves.
Today we released our 2012 “Ferraro 500” list, which reorders Fortune 500 companies based on the size of their Unrecognized Tax Benefit reserves. This annual study always has some interesting results and outliers. For example, Fortune 500 corporate profits...
Wait for it… Whistleblower Awards are coming.
An interesting letter was released last night from IRS Commissioner Shulman to Senator Grassley. Commissioner Shulman’s letter says more about what is in the pipeline for large whistleblower case award determinations than any statement the IRS has made to...
Academic Paper on the IRS Whistleblower Office Provides a Thorough Impartial Analysis of the Program
This spring I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Justin Kempf, law student at the University of Miami, about the IRS whistleblower program for an academic paper he was writing. That paper, titled the "IRS Whistleblower Office: There is More Work to be," provides...
IRS Says No Award for Information on Offshore Accounts.
Tax Analysts recently released a Chief Counsel Memorandum dated April 23, 2012, stating that the IRS cannot pay a section 7623(b) award on recoveries from the failure to report a foreign bank account commonly referred to as “FBAR” penalties. While we...
U.S. Tax Court Finalizes Rules for Whistleblower Anonymity and Redacting Taxpayer Names.
In line with the Tax Court’s Whistleblower favorable ruling in Whistleblower 14106-10W v. Commissioner, 137 T.C. 183 (2011), the court formally adopted Rule 345 on July 6, 2012. The new rule has two effective parts, the first deals with Whistleblowers...
The Ferraro Law Firm files an amicus curiae brief in a Tax Court case involving a de facto denied claim.
Some of our clients and readers of this blog have asked that we publish the amicus curiae brief that The Ferraro Law Firm recently filed with the United States Tax Court in the case of Joseph A. Insinga v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Mr. Insinga is...
IRS Whistleblower Office Annual Report Shows a Decrease in the Number of Submissions in Fiscal Year 2011.
Fiscal year 2011 was a big year for the IRS whistleblower program according to the IRS Whistleblower Office’s Fiscal Year 2011 Report to the Congress on the Use of Section 7623. Some of the highlights from the report are: The number of submissions in fiscal year...
The IRS puts Timelines in Place for Reviewing Whistleblower Submissions
The IRS has adopted internal timelines for how long the IRS has to act on whistleblower submissions according to a field directive sent to the agency’s operating divisions on June 20, 2012. According to the field directive, Deputy Commissioner Steven T....
Whistleblower Guidance Issued on Partial Payments and Withholding
The IRS released welcome guidance relating to whistleblower claims submitted under its long embattled whistleblower program. With all the recent reports showing that the IRS has numerous problems yet to solve to make its whistleblower program as effective as...
Timeline of IRS Whistleblower cases
We had a good client ask us the other day about the status of case we had filed together about two years ago. I thought the question was a very good one, so with names omitted I’d like to share both the question and my answer. First some background: the...
Tax Fraud vs. Tax Evasion – How can a whistleblower tell the difference?
We get questions all the time about situations that appear to involve tax fraud, but often it is unclear to the person asking the question exactly what activities rise to the level of tax fraud or tax evasion. So here’s a short primer on what tax fraud and...
Whistleblower petition raises many questions for the Tax Court
Joseph A. Insinga, retired Rabobank Finance Specialist, filed a petition with the Tax Court arguing that the IRS’s continued refusal to issue a formal determination constitutes a de facto rejection of his claim and appeals this de facto rejection. ...
Final Whistleblower “Collected Proceeds” Regulations Issued
Today the Treasury Department issued the finalized Treas. Reg. Section 301.7623-1(a) and (g) relating to the definition of “collected proceeds” for purposes of section 7623 tax whistleblower awards. Although the language of the final whistleblower...
Tax Whistleblower Lawyer recognized by the ABA
Kudos to Erica Brady in our Washington DC office for being named by the American Bar Association as a 2012 Nolan Fellow. This award by the ABA’s tax section is given to the top 6 young tax attorneys nationwide who demonstrate excellence and leadership....
Offshore Banking War Escalates
The latest round of the U.S. crackdown of tax evasion through the utilization of undeclared offshore bank accounts has the US significantly upping the stakes of the game. The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted Wegelin & Co, founded in 1741 - which makes...
IRS issues guidance on what we thought were already pretty settled procedural Whistleblower issues… so not much has changed.
They say things come in threes, and last week three program manager technical assistance (“PMTA”) memoranda relating to whistleblower cases were released. Two of the three PMTAs relate to power of attorney forms and the third discusses disclosure of...
Does Tax Crime Pay (Whistleblowers)?
Congratulations to our associate, Erica Brady, for the publishing of her article, Does Tax Crime Pay (Whistleblowers)?, in the February 2012 edition of TAXES–The Tax Magazine published by CCH. She has previously blogged about criminal fines as tax whistleblower...
Tax Scandals, Celebrity Style
In the tax world, unlike Hollywood, we really don’t get that many juicy stories. However, when the “stars” embarrass themselves with their tax troubles, we are provided relief from yet another story about, for example, the material...
IRS estimate of the United States Tax Gap shows that opportunities for whistleblowers abound.
The IRS estimates that the gross tax gap for 2006 is $450 billion, or 17 percent of taxes. The gross tax gap is the amount of the true tax liability faced by taxpayers that is not paid on time. After its enforcement efforts, the IRS estimates that the net...
Tax Court decides landmark Tax Whistleblower case about confidentiality during an award appeal.
The decision of the Tax Court in Whistleblower 14106-10W v. Commissioner should encourage tax whistleblowers that their identity will be protected if they choose to avail themselves of their judicial appeal rights under section 7623(b)(4). The Tax...