Taxes
The three people will share a $74 million payout for disclosing a tax evasion scheme that enabled the IRS to collect $263 million.
Three people who blew the whistle on a longstanding tax evasion scheme will share a $74 million payout from the IRS, one of the largest awards in the history of the agency’s whistleblower program.
The individuals, whose identities remain protected, disclosed an offshore tax evasion scheme that spanned 15 years, enabling the IRS to collect $263 million from an unidentified individual, Bloomberg reported.
Under the IRS whistleblower program, which began in 2007, about 2,500 tax tipsters have gotten $1 billion for providing information that led to collections of $6 billion. The biggest payout was to former UBS Group AG banker Bradley Birkenfeld, who got $104 million in 2012 for telling U.S. investigators how his employer helped thousands of Americans evade taxes.
The $74 million award rivals the $88.8 million that was awarded to 121 whistleblowers, which led to the collection of $338 million in tax revenue, for the entirety of fiscal year 2023. The government’s $263.7 million recovery exceeds all amounts collected based on whistleblower information in 2021 or 2022.
Although it took years to resolve the case, recent policy changes significantly shortened the time it took to pay the whistleblowers, lawyers said.
“We think that this victory that we have achieved together with the IRS Whistleblower Office is a harbinger for the future,” said...
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