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IRS Threatens to Weaken Whistleblower Program

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has proposed regulations that would “hamstring” its whistleblower program, according to Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), a longtime champion of whistleblowers.

Last month, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) echoed Senator Grassley’s concerns in a comment letter to the IRS, which the Government Accountability Project (GAP) also joined.

Legislation authored by Senator Grassley in 2006 enabled the IRS to offer a financial award to people who blow the whistle on Americans hiding money from the tax collector. The IRS program is modeled after the False Claims Act, which has recovered $35 billion for taxpayers since 1986.

But the program will only work if whistleblowers are encouraged to come forward. According to Senator Grassley, the IRS’s regulations would do just the opposite.

One proposal would “unduly limit the scope of the program,” he warned, by excluding whistleblower tips “relating to undisclosed foreign bank accounts” if the information does not “directly [relate] to the underpayments themselves.”

Another proposal could “drastically limit the number of corporate whistleblowers,” he said, because it allows the IRS to “claim that the information provided dealt with a topic that was covered in a regularly scheduled IRS audit,” and therefore does not qualify for an award.

Elsewhere in the proposal, the IRS cautioned that awards may be reduced for whistleblowers who “planned and initiated the tax fraud,” even if they only “[k]new or had reason to know that there were tax implications to planning and initiating the underlying act.”

“There is a delicate balance that needs to be struck between weeding out bad actors while not discouraging knowledgeable insiders from coming forward,” Senator Grassley said, and the proposal “fails to properly strike this delicate balance.”

POGO and GAP also raised concerns about a senior IRS official, William Wilkins, who used to lobby the IRS and other agencies on behalf of the Swiss Bankers Association. We asked the IRS to restrict Wilkins from working on the proposal. “Swiss banks such as UBS have been at the center of tax evasion scandals and have a major stake in the IRS’s whistleblower regulations,” the letter said.

We urged the IRS to amend the regulations so that they “expand, not limit, the opportunities for whistleblowers to come forward.”

“At a time when the IRS is struggling with a heavy workload and limited resources, the agency should be doing everything it can to incentivize and protect corporate insiders who are in the position to blow the whistle on tax fraud,” the letter said.

The IRS will be holding a public hearing on April 10 to discuss the proposed regulations.

By: Michael Smallberg
Investigator, POGO

Michael Smallberg, Investigator Michael Smallberg is an investigator for the Project On Government Oversight. Michael's investigations center on oversight of the financial sector.

Topics: Whistleblower Protections

Related Content: Financial Oversight

Authors: Michael Smallberg

Submitted by somebody at: May 7, 2013
I work for an employer that is reporting "per diem" improperly. I've calculated that this company is paying no less then 15k per year less in payroll taxes then required by law. The whistle blower program doesn't pay the informant unless $2 million or more is discovered to be unpayed in a calendar year. In the field of employment that I'm in this is a common occurrence. There is no incentive to report these kinds of employers.
Submitted by Roy J. Meidinger at: March 23, 2013
Re: Docket No. 016513-12 The following letter has opened an investigation by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Complaint No. 55-1302-0029-C: Roy J. Meidinger 14893 American Eagle Ct. Fort Myers, Florida 33912 Tel No. 1-239-694-5597 March 3, 2013 Joint Committee On Taxation To all Committee Members Washington D.C. To whom it may concern; The LMSB Control No.: LMSB-04-0807-056, Impacted IRM 4.51.2, was written to cover up the gross negligence of the IRS of not collecting taxes in the Health Care Industry, of Approximately a Trillion Dollars a year. This document eliminates forgiveness of debt income, bribes, and kickbacks and allows the Hospitals to write off these illegal payments. The document goes against the Constitutional guarantees that all individuals be treated equally under the law, especially the tax laws. In the Health Care Industry all private pay patients are to be treated the same and billed the same for the same services. This is guaranteed by both the State and Federal Antitrust laws and the Social Security Law, under Medicare/Medicaid Programs. These billed amounts are certified correct, when sent to third party payers, by the use of the Uniform Billing Form, UB 04, which if false is subject to fine or imprisonment or both, for every insured patient’s bill submitted. In our legal system and under the Internal Revenue code for accrual accounting a bill is a Promissory Note, with the amount listed on it a material fact and the legal obligation. If a legal discount is to be given it must be listed on the bill at the time of issuance and the net amount listed on the bill. The amount listed on the bill is the recognized revenue for tax purposes. The LMSB document deals with the use of the “Contract Adjustment “accounting procedures. The idea is the health insurance companies bring their members to the hospital and receive a bulk discount because of lowered cost. This is a partial truth and partially false, it is true the more patients a hospital has can lower the average cost of handling services for all patients, also known as economy of scale, but the important point is all patients’ costs go down because it is an average cost, also known as overhead absorption. The health care laws and the State and Federal Price Discrimination laws are very specific in order not to shift costs to one patient all group of patients all patients must be charged the same Price to Cost ratio. Therefore, all patients are charged the same price for the same services and have the same legal obligation. The law that created the HMO’s and PPO’s, Title 42, Chapter 6A, Subchapter XI, § 300e. Requirements of Health Maintenance Organizations: (7) is quite specific in its contractual requirements; It says the health insurance companies must fully pay the legal obligation of its members when they use the services of a hospital the insurance company has a contract with. The insured member of the HMO or PPO is charged the same amount as a non-insured patient and has the same legal obligation. The LMSB makes null and void the Law passed by Congress and therefore makes the IRS more powerful than Congress. The LMSB document goes on to say it is okay to use the contract adjustment methodology, which was meant only for the federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid, for the private side of the business when there is a legal contract in place between the hospital and the health insurance company. But, the IRS Whistleblower office refuses to investigate a single contract to see if they are legal and challenge them in court. If they were to investigate they would find them completely illegal. The contracts call for the following: a. Both parties have signed an agreement to substantially increase the members co-payment if the member uses a health care provider not a member of the insurance companies network, which is financial coercion, price discrimination and are felonies; b. The contract says the hospital will be the only provider in a particular region and the members will encouraged to boycott other health care providers. c. The contract says all the patients will be charged the high “customary charge” for all services, even the non-insured patients which is price fixing and a felony. d. You can determine from the contract the compensation paid to the health insurance companies is a kickback of 85% or more of the debt and the compensation given to the hospital is financial coercion of its members to use the hospital services; e. You can also see that both parties benefit from the use of high bill by getting higher payments for the hospital and higher premiums for the insurance companies. f. The contract does not purchase any medical supplies or medical services or guaranty any number of patients. The Whistleblower Office has used this LMSB document as an excuse to do nothing, not a single investigation has been made, even though the New Whistleblower Law says every claim must be investigated. The Whistleblower Office did not hold an administrative hearing or give a cause for not pursuing the claim when both of these requirements are required by law. It is up to this Committee to fix these problems or Recommend to Congress that the Accrual Method of Accounting will no longer be accepted by the Internal Revenue Service and that all bills made in the future will have no meaning for determining any legal obligations or to be used for tax purposes. The IRS is allowing the Health Care Industry to establish its own accounting methodology, say which bills are real and which amounts must be paid and what the tax liabilities are. There are major players involved in this cover up of the Internal Revenue Services’ gross negligence and I hope you uncover all the people responsible. Please contact me with your findings and let me know what actions you are taking. Roy J. Meidinger /s/
Submitted by Roy J. Meidinger at: March 23, 2013
The new proposals being offered by the IRS go beyond just excluding identifying non-compliant taxpayers hiding revenue overseas, it will also eliminate the rights of Whistleblowers when the IRS decides not to procede wth a claim, because the Whistleblower Office has not sent out an award letter. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen In reviewing the documentation which is offered by the IRS, I am making the following suggestion, prepare a uniform contract for all disclosures and have it signed by the Whistleblower Office before any documentation is given. You have rights. In the documentation specify when the contract goes into effect, i.e. when the Whistleblower Office accepts the the contract and gives you a claim number. Specify the amount of time they have to start an investigation. Specify the percentage of the reward you will receive. Specify the Whistleblower office must be forth coming with all information and tell you why, give the cause for not proceding; this is a requirement of the Administrative procedures act. Specify the Whistleblower Office is subject to the Tucker Act. An important point of the new Whistleblower Law is that the IRS has two investigations it can perform, one is the Administrative investigation and the other is a Criminal investigation, under the Whistleblower Law the IRS must do one or both of these investigations, please specify this information in your contract. You must also include a statement that any funds recovered from your information or leads you provide the Whistleblower must be rewarded. Please write up a uniform contract so that all whistleblowers can use it. Thank you Roy
Submitted by Dfens at: March 20, 2013
Could someone please point out to me where in the US Constitution the Internal Revenue Service was authorized? The fact of the matter is, it's not in there. The very existence of the IRS threatens our liberties. If the government can create a "police force" based solely on an act of collusion between the 3 branches, and give them control of every cent or item of wealth you or I make or own, then what is beyond them? What constitution or law can possibly constrain them?

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