When compared to the previous fiscal year, the Internal Revenue Service has awarded more money to whistleblowers this year. Despite this being the case, the amount of money given by the IRS is still lower when compared to some of the awards given out in recent years.
Overview
The Internal Revenue Service has its own office that is solely dedicated to processing whistleblower information and issuing awards for the information used. During the 2022 fiscal year, the IRS Whistleblower Office announced that 132 awards were issued out of the 396 claims made. In total, $37.8 million were awarded to the whistleblowers, and the IRS collected roughly $173 million in proceeds due to information provided to them.
Report Details
According to the report provided by the IRS Whistleblower Office, proceeds collected were raised by approximately 7%. Moving from 21.9% in 2022 when compared to 14.7% in fiscal year 2021. The report goes on to say that the most commonly reported violations were unreported and underreported income, failure to file a tax return and general fraud. Most amounts of whistleblower reports were seen on the east coast, with the central and western regions following suit in that respective order.
Wrap Up
The report that was previously mentioned also stated that there is more that can be done to protect these whistleblowers and that more clarification is needed when it comes to submitting information and the claiming and issuance of awards. This report was released whilst two whistleblowers were making claims against the Justice Department, saying that the Department intentionally halted the tax investigation into the President’s son Hunter Biden, before he pleaded guilty to his tax charges.