Senator shines spotlight on IRS Whistleblower Program

Eddie Quigg, CPA, JD

Expressing his "extreme disappointment in the management of the program", Senator Charles Grassley is considering delaying the approval of the nominations of two senior Treasury appointees pending obtaining satisfactory responses to his repeated requests for information made to the IRS/Treasury concerning the program.
"The IRS does not have a problem attracting whistleblowers, " Grassley said. "The IRS has a problem processing whistleblower information and compensating whistleblowers in a timely manner. I'm hearing frustration from whistleblowers, and my worst fears are coming true. The lack of progress is demoralizing whistleblowers, and they might stop coming forward. That would be a bad outcome for the taxpayers."
Replacing "taxpayers" with "whistleblowers" the Senator's comments can be applied to the administration of the tax system as a whole. While I think the Whistleblower program should be properly administered to achieve its stated goal of curtailing tax cheaters, the same zeal and oversight should be applied to the administration of the entire tax system, which would provide a good outcome for a great deal more taxpayers.
Click here for the full text of the Senator's comments, and more links.