ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Taxpayer First Act Helps Whistleblowers
Protections Against Employer Retaliation
Expanding The Disclosures Protected By Law
Laws enacted within the last year enhanced the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) whistleblower program for accountants, tax professionals, and other insiders who blow the whistle on tax fraud. Whistleblower rewards rose too. Over the past two fiscal years alone, the IRS paid out more than $312 million dollars in rewards to citizens who blew the whistle on offshore tax fraud and other tax avoidance schemes. If you have information regarding tax fraud, including offshore tax avoidance schemes and violations of foreign bank account reporting requirements, the California and San Francisco whistleblower/qui tam attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. know how to present your evidence to the IRS with the best chance for you to receive an eventual reward. Call the IRS whistleblower/qui tam attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. (415)441-8669, and we can help. Offshore tax fraud may also violate the Bank Secrecy Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) and our attorneys will pursue all possible whistleblower causes of action on your behalf.
New laws also expanded protection against employer retaliation. In particular, under the Taxpayer First Act of 2018 (TFA), H.R. 3151) you cannot be retaliated against for:
- Providing information to a supervisor regarding underpayment of tax or any conduct which the employee reasonably believes constitutes a violation of the Internal Revenue laws or any provision of federal law relating to tax fraud;
- Participating in an internal investigation about tax fraud or other violations of internal revenue laws;
- Reporting tax fraud or other violations of internal revenue laws to the IRS, Comptroller General, Congress, Treasury Secretary or the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA); or
- Testifying, participating in or otherwise assisting in any administrative or judicial action taken by the IRS relating to an alleged underpayment of tax or any violation of the internal revenue laws or any provision of federal law relating to tax fraud. 26 U.S.C. § 7623(d).
Retaliation includes not only demotion termination but also non-tangible employment actions, such as “outing” a whistleblower in a manner that forces the whistleblower to suffer alienation and isolation from work colleagues. See Menendez v. Halliburton, Inc., ARB Nos. 09-002, -003, ALJ No. 2007-SOX-5 (ARB Sept 13, 2011). Under the TFA, a whistleblower is entitled to: reinstatement; double back pay with interest; uncapped “special damages,” which include damages for emotional distress and reputational harm; and attorney fees, litigation costs, and expert witness fees. Our attorneys can represent you against employers who retaliate against you for blowing the whistle on fraud in addition to representing you in your underlying IRS whistleblower application.
Contact Us
If you have information regarding offshore tax avoidance schemes, violations of foreign bank account reporting requirements, abusive tax shelters, or other tax fraud contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other IRS whistleblower and tax fraud attorneys at the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our whistleblower attorneys also handle cases involving bank fraud under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA/FIAFEA), the Commodities Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program, the Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Program, False Claims Act cases, the FINRA Whistleblower Office and the California False Claims Act. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We also handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
