Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Program

A company’s tax return may tell a different story from its own books. You may know about income kept out of the accounts, expenses that were invented, or an offshore arrangement whose real purpose was concealed. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Whistleblower Program can reward information that helps recover money owed under the tax laws. We work with people who understand the transactions behind those numbers. The IRS’s annual reports describe the program’s role in tax enforcement.

What the IRS Whistleblower Program Rewards

The program pays for qualifying information that leads to collected proceeds from tax enforcement. Its governing law is Section 7623 of the Internal Revenue Code. The connection between your information and what the IRS recovers is central to the award.

Tax fraud can sit inside an otherwise ordinary business: the income a company leaves out, the deduction its records do not support, or the ownership it disguises. Our page on the transactions behind tax fraud describes the kinds of conduct insiders encounter. Understanding who made the decision and how it changed what was owed gives the numbers their meaning.

IRS Whistleblower Award Percentages

The ordinary statutory range for qualifying larger cases is 15% to 30% of collected proceeds. That part of the law applies when disputed proceeds exceed $2 million. If the taxpayer is an individual, that person’s gross income must also exceed $200,000 in at least one tax year involved. The statute sets out those thresholds and also authorizes discretionary awards outside that larger-case provision.

A company’s unpaid tax, the proceeds the IRS ultimately collects and a whistleblower’s award are different amounts. Questions about which provision applies, whether you qualify and how much your information could help recover are part of our assessment with you and counsel. A confidential conversation gives those questions the attention your facts deserve.

The IRS Program’s History and Results

The tax code already authorized payments for information about tax violations in 1954. The IRS’s fiscal 2024 annual report describes how the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 strengthened the reward law and established the Whistleblower Office, and how the current program developed from 2007.

In fiscal 2024, the IRS paid $123.5 million in whistleblower awards tied to $474.7 million in collected proceeds. The same report records $88.8 million in awards for fiscal 2023.

Experts Who Understand the Business Behind the Return

Questions about confidentiality, retaliation or your own position in the business are reasons to speak with us. We are whistleblowers ourselves, with more than 20 years of experience, and we work alongside counsel with the right expertise for the case. We connect the transactions, the people who understood them and the tax consequences they concealed.

Our role continues through the case, as your experts and partners. Speak with us about your tax fraud information so we can help build your strongest IRS whistleblower case and bring together the right legal team.