Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa drafted the 2006 provisions that improved the IRS whistleblower office to cut tax fraud. Grassley has worked to make sure IRS properly implements the provisions and is responsive to whistleblowers. Since 2007, whistleblower information has helped the IRS collect more than $3 billion in taxes that otherwise would have been lost to fraud. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration today released a new report on the performance of the IRS whistleblower office. Grassley made the following comment on the report.
“The IRS continues to do a better job of listening to whistleblowers, but it can do better. Processing claims needs improvement. That’s important because a whistleblower claim that falls through the cracks might mean big dollar tax fraud is overlooked. The IRS sometimes isn’t getting in touch with whistleblowers for clarification, and that could leave valuable information off the table. The IRS should implement all of the recommendations in the report. The report said the whistleblower office helps reduce the estimated $406 billion tax gap between taxes owed and paid on time. Disallowing big dollar non-payment of taxes owed is a matter of fairness for the majority of taxpayers who pay what they owe.”
The new report is available here.
