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May 10
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Today the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report calling for better Internal Revenue Service (IRS) management of the IRS whistleblower program aimed at curbing big-dollar tax cheating. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa last week expressed his "extreme disappointment in the management of the program" in a letter to the agency. Grassley wrote the 2006 law improving the IRS whistleblower office.
Grassley made the following comment on today's report.
"This report confirms my concern that the IRS isn't serious about processing whistleblower claims in a timely way. Open-ended timeframes don't get the job done. Ironically, taxpayers are subject to strict deadlines and stiff penalties for foot-dragging with the IRS. The accountability is one-sided. Meanwhile, while the grass grows at the IRS, big-dollar tax cheating continues. Whistleblowers who are trying to expose the wrongdoing are left twisting in the wind. If the IRS and the Treasury Department really want to close the tax gap, they need to focus on cleaning up the processing of claims and issuing awards. Instead of going to conferences in Miami and San Diego, they should process whistleblower claims and make these payments. For example, the whistleblower office director's approval of an award apparently has to be reviewed by an executive committee before a whistleblower can be paid. As I said in my letter last week, the IRS needs to get the process moving. President Obama should make this a priority. While he promotes higher taxes on millionaires, his own administration is allowing big-dollar tax cheating to continue by letting whistleblower cases sit on the shelf. He could do a lot for tax compliance by lighting a fire under the IRS on whistleblowers."
Today's report is available here.
The text of Grassley's latest letter is available here.
