The importance of whistleblowers was highlighted again recently in South Africa. In one of the reports released by Judge Raymond Zondo, who has headed up a commission of inquiry into State capture, he recommended that whistleblowers should be protected. He also recommended that they should be given an incentive to make disclosures – a monetary reward based on a percentage of the proceeds recovered on the strength of such information. Academics, myself among them, have called for similar treatment of tax whistleblowers.
End "Repeal by Delay" in the IRS Whistleblower Program | Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto LLP jdsupra.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jdsupra.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, introduced a bipartisan bill Tuesday to beef up the Internal Revenue Service’s whistleblower program and protect tax tipsters.
The
IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act includes seven measures to bolster the already successful program, which has brought in over $6 billion from individuals and businesses that were trying to avoid taxes. The
bill would provide for “de novo” review in appeals heard by the U.S. Tax Court, permitting new evidence to be admitted to the record, and providing a presumption of anonymity for whistleblowers before the court. The legislation would also exempt whistleblower awards from congressional budget sequestration measures, which could reduce the amounts, and provide that interest be paid to awardees if the award has not been paid within one year. It would also bring the tax treatment of attorney’s fees into line with other whistlebl