IRS Whistleblower Office Awarded $61M in Fiscal 2016

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WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office awarded more than $61 million to whistleblowers in fiscal 2016, the agency said Thursday.

IRS officials called fiscal 2016 a "transformative" year for the program, which had 418 awards, a 322% increase from the 99 awards made in fiscal 2015. The program helps the IRS detect and deter tax noncompliance.

The IRS also rejected 12,395 claims from whistleblowers in fiscal 2016 that were "not specific, credible, or are speculative in nature," officials said. The Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division (TE/GE), which includes the Office of Tax-Exempt Bonds, had 184 total submissions and 10,460 claim numbers during the past fiscal year, according to the IRS.

"While the jurisdiction of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division (TE/GE) encompasses a wide range of taxpayers and tax issues, that division receives relatively few whistleblower claims," officials said.

The whistleblower program, introduced in 2006, has generated more than $3.4 billion in revenues for the agency since its inception. The IRS has approved more than $465 million in awards to whistleblowers during that span.

Claims were up by 6.4% in fiscal 2016 compared with fiscal 2015, and closures increased by 99%, the agency said.

However, the office saw a significant drop in staff this past fiscal year, with a total staff of 37 employees at the end of fiscal 2016 compared to 61 employees at the start of that fiscal year.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the whistleblower program is "more welcoming to whistleblowers all the time," but added that there is still room for improvement.

He said he has spoken with Treasury Department secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin and stressed the need for significant oversight for the program.

"The IRS is still not as fast as it could be in considering whistleblower information," Grassley said. "Whistleblowers often have put their livelihoods on the line to come forward, and they deserve timely answers from the IRS."

The IRS said in fiscal 2017 it will continue to implement the "changes, improvements and enhances" recommended by the Government Accountability Office, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the internal Lean Six Sigma organizational review.

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