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 date, much more so than even the annual reports that the Whistleblower Office is required by law to provide to Congress. Shulman says that: 3 award determinations have already been made (and presumed paid), 3 more award determinations are in progress, 9 cases are closed out and waiting for the statutes of limitation to run, and another 60+ have resulted in audit adjustments already that look like they will result in mandatory awards. We know of a bunch more cases with proposed adjustments, so the case pipeline is moving slowly but surely. The IRS is still leaving huge dollars on the table in some cases, and while that’s to be expected as part of the tax controversy process, it still disturbing to see the government lose out on potential revenue in these austere times.
Commissioner Shulman also committed the IRS to a 90 day timeline for making award determinations once the refund statute of limitations has closed on the taxpayer which was set forth in Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller’s June memo. Shulman added a new twist though – he said that the combined determination and payment timeframe so far has actually been completed within that 90 day period – specifically he said ”With respect to payments made to date, awards have been generally been paid within three months of resolution of legal issues.” According to my review of the relevant procedures and my discussions with IRS officials, payment processing once the award determination is accepted should be a matter of weeks, so it makes sense that they can get both the determination and payment done within that timeframe.
Recent Comments