In October, I blogged the first $1 billion Tax Whistleblower submission to the newly created IRS Whistleblower Office, filed by The Ferraro Law Firm (Miami, FL & Washington, D.C.). The firm yesterday announced that it has filed the first $2 billion Tax Whistleblower submission:
In this most recent submission, a tax whistleblower has come forward to allege that one of the world’s largest companies has underpaid its U.S. tax liability by more than $2 billion. “The amount at issue here may seem shocking,” said Scott A. Knott, a Tax Partner in the Washington office of The Ferraro Law Firm, “but when you are dealing with multinational corporations, tax issues that run into the billions of dollars are not that unusual.” “We have been keeping our eye on the tax exposure disclosures that publicly held companies have been making for the first time this year under FIN 48 and Sarbanes-Oxley, so we know that there are many more billion dollar issues out there,” said Gregory S. Lynam, also a Tax Partner with The Ferraro Law Firm. When the IRS Whistleblower Office issues its first Annual Report – which by law it must do by December 20, 2007 – “Expect to see a significant increase in both the quantity and quality of the tips the IRS has been receiving,” said founding Partner James L. Ferraro.