ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Caterpillar’s Massive Tax Avoidance Headache
The Story Of A Determined Whistleblower
The largest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower case of all time has been going on for years against one of the best known names in American industry – Caterpillar. The Evans Law Firm is not involved in the case in any way but the firm’s California whistleblower/qui tam attorneys are following the case as it unfolds. The whistleblower is a former high-level accountant with Caterpillar. The whistleblower alleges that the company underpaid US taxes by $2 billion over a period of years through an overseas tax arrangement that booked profits to offshore operations instead of US operations where those profits were allegedly earned. If you have credible information regarding an abusive tax avoidance scheme or offshore arrangement call the California IRS whistleblower attorneys today at the Evans Law Firm at (415)441-8669.
If the IRS recovers the $2 billion in unpaid taxes from Caterpillar, the whistleblower stands to receive a $600 million reward. That would be the largest award ever to an IRS whistleblower. Five years ago, the IRS awarded $104 million to Bradley Birkenfeld, a former banker at UBS Group AG, for telling investigators how the bank had helped thousands of Americans dodge taxes. Before he received his award, however, Birkenfeld had to serve prison time for his own involvement in the UBS scheme. In any event, the incentives for IRS whistleblowers with credible, original information of tax avoidance schemes are very substantial. Not all IRS whistleblower cases are as large as these cases of course. The IRS whistleblower programs does have minimums however, and you should consult with an attorney to determine whether your potential case meets those minimums.
You should also know that the whistleblower claim process often takes years from application to resolution. The Caterpillar whistleblower began reporting the scheme in 2009, by 2013 the IRS concluded that Caterpillar had employed an “abusive” tax strategy, and in 2014 the United States Senate held hearings on the matter. The case still has not been resolved. If you believe you have information on abusive offshore tax avoidance schemes, consult California IRS whistleblower attorney Ingrid Evans of Evans Law Firm, Inc. She and the other whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm can assist you in properly organizing your information and sifting through your evidence for what the IRS looks at most closely. Documentation and specific evidence of wrongdoing are the most important components of a credible case.
Contact Us
If you have information regarding tax fraud and are looking to be a whistleblower in California, contact California IRS whistleblower attorney Ingrid Evans and the other whistleblower 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 attorneys have experience with complex qui tam or whistleblower cases, complex financial contract cases and cases against large insurance companies. 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, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
