Bipartisan Reform Bill Would Bolster Beleaguered IRS Whistleblower Program

The bipartisan IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act of 2023 offers a number of technical, non-controversial reforms to get the IRS Whistleblower Program back on track. KKC founding partner Stephen M. Kohn explains the importance of the bill in a new article for Bloomberg Tax.

“Since 2006, the IRS Whistleblower Program has allowed the US to recover over $6.6 billion from wealthy tax cheats and corporations non-compliant with tax law, in turn paying $1.1 billion to more than 2,500 whistleblowers,” Kohn writes. “But the program has been plagued by a steep drop in collections and growing delays for whistleblower award claims—up to nearly 11 years.”

“That’s where the IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act of 2023, introduced earlier this year, comes in,” Kohn continues. “The bill’s technical reforms offered by the bill are four key provisions that will help make the program stronger.”

In the article Kohn outlines four key provisions of the IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act and explains how they will help bolster the program. These provisions are the imposition of interest on delayed awards, the removal of budget sequestration for whistleblower awards, the ending of double taxation of attorney fees and the institution of de novo review in award case appeals.

“As the US tax gap continues to balloon, the need for effective tax enforcement becomes more profound,” concludes Kohn. “For the IRS Whistleblower Program to play a central role, Congress needs to institute the essential reforms found in the IRS Whistleblower Improvement Act. The program has demonstrated its worth, and it badly needs these fixes to function effectively.”