November 12, 2021
Comment Letter: The IRS Should Direct Individuals with Information on Tax Fraud to File a Whistleblower Claim
PHILADELPHIA – Gary L. Azorsky, co-chair of Cohen Milstein’s Whistleblower and False Claims Act practice group, along with co-chair Jeanne A. Markey, and Raymond M. Sarola, submitted today a comment letter on the group’s behalf to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposing changes to a form used for collecting information on tax fraud that will promote awareness and use of the IRS Whistleblower Program.
Cohen Milstein regularly represents individuals who provide information to the IRS Whistleblower Program and who are eligible for financial awards if that information meets program criteria and contributes to the IRS’s collection of tax underpayments and penalties. Today’s comment letter responds to the IRS’s request for input on its Form 3949-A, which is used by individuals to submit information regarding tax fraud to the IRS, but which does not qualify individuals for mandatory awards under the IRS Whistleblower Program. Cohen Milstein proposes to the IRS that it revise Form 3949-A and its instructions to more fully and prominently communicate that individuals with information regarding tax underpayments who wish to participate in the IRS Whistleblower Program and be eligible for financial awards need to file a different form (Form 211) and comply with all rules and regulations of the Whistleblower Program.
“Whistleblowers have provided the IRS Whistleblower Office with valuable information that has led to the collection of over $6 billion in underpaid taxes,” said Gary L. Azorsky. “We share the IRS’s belief in the importance of its Whistleblower Program and have offered our thoughts on how to increase the public’s awareness and use of this crucial mechanism to assist the enforcement of our nation’s tax laws.”
A copy of the letter can be found here.
Cohen Milstein’s Whistleblower and False Claims Act practice group has decades of combined experience successfully pursuing whistleblower cases under the federal and state false claims act statutes, and claims under the whistleblower programs of the SEC, IRS, and CFTC.