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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

IRS Tax Fraud Lawyers and Illegal Offshore Account Lawyers Can Help Tax Fraud Whistleblowers: IRS pays whistleblower $104 million


IRS Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyers Can Confidentially Represent IRS Fraud Whistleblowers that Want to Expose Corporate Tax Fraud and Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud by Texas IRS Tax Fraud Lawyer, Texas Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, and Illegal Offshore Account Whistleblower Lawyer Jason S. Coomer
The IRS Tax Fraud whistleblower reward law is IRS Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Program under section 406 of the Internal Revenue CodeThis whistleblower recovery law includes significant economic incentives and protections for whistleblowers to encourage people with specialized knowledge of significant tax fraud to step forward and report the fraud.  These protections if used properly can protect whistleblowers from retaliation and allow whistleblowers to recover large amounts of money for being the first to properly report significant tax fraud.   

For more information on IRS Tax Fraud, please go to the following web pages:
IRS tax fraud confidential informant and whistleblower lawyer, Jason S. Coomer, works with petroleum accountant whistleblowers, multinational corporation accountant whistleblowers, and other IRS tax fraud whistleblowers that want to confidentially blow the whistle on large scale IRS tax fraud including corporate underpayment of taxes and illegal offshore accounts.  If you are aware of significant tax fraud or underpayment of taxes,  please feel free to contact IRS Tax Fraud Confidential Whistleblower Reward Lawyer and Tax Fraud Informant Reward Lawyer Jason Coomer via e-mail message.



IRS pays whistleblower $104 million

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service has awarded an ex-banker $104 million for providing information about overseas tax cheats — the largest amount ever awarded by the agency, lawyers for the whistleblower announced Tuesday.
Former Swiss banker Bradley Birkenfeld is credited with exposing widespread tax evasion at Swiss bank UBS AG. Birkenfeld himself served roughly two and-a-half years in prison for a fraud conspiracy conviction related to the case, which resulted in a $780 million fine against the bank and an unprecedented agreement requiring UBS to turn over thousands of names of suspected American tax dodgers to the IRS.

"The IRS today sent 104 million messages to whistleblowers around the world — that there is now a safe and secure way to report tax fraud and that the IRS is now paying awards," Birkenfeld's lawyers, Stephen M. Kohn and Dean A. Zerbe, said in a statement. "The IRS also sent 104 million messages to banks around the world — stop enabling tax cheats or you will get caught."

The IRS, which doesn't usually confirm individual award payments, said Birkenfeld signed a disclosure waiver, allowing the agency to confirm his award.

"The IRS believes that the whistleblower statute provides a valuable tool to combat tax non-compliance, and this award reflects our commitment to the law," IRS spokeswoman Michele Eldridge said in an email.

Birkenfeld has become something of a cause celebre among whistleblowers because of the magnitude of his case and the fact that he was jailed after cooperating with authorities.
In a summary of the award provided by Birkenfeld's lawyers, the IRS said, "The comprehensive information provided by the whistleblower was exceptional in both its breadth and depth."

"While the IRS was aware of tax compliance issues related to secret bank accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere, the information provided by the whistleblower formed the basis for unprecedented actions against UBS AG, with collateral impact on other enforcement activities and a continuing impact on future compliance by UBS AG," the IRS said in the summary.

Federal prosecutors, however, had said Birkenfeld withheld information about his own dealings with a former UBS client who pleaded guilty in 2007 to tax charges.

In 2006, Congress strengthened whistleblower rewards. The 2006 law targets high-income tax dodgers, guaranteeing rewards for qualified whistleblowers if the company in question owes a least $2 million in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties.

Some lawmakers, however, have complained that the IRS has been slow to pay out awards.
"The potential for this program is tremendous, and it's up to the IRS to continue paying rewards and demonstrating to whistleblowers that the process will work and that they will be heard and protected," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who helped write the law. "An award of $104 million is obviously a great deal of money, but billions of dollars in taxes owed will be collected that otherwise would not have been paid, as a result of the whistleblower information."

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