Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Report to Congress Signals Opportunities for New Tax Whistleblowers

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Internal Revenue Service published a report to Congress on the use of section 7623, the section that allows for the payment of awards to tax whistleblowers, in which it revealed that the IRS Whistleblower Office has received a steady stream of information about multi-million dollar tax underpayments over fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The IRS reported receiving 460 submissions in their fiscal 2009 that meet the criteria for section 7623(b), which is the mandatory award program for multi-million dollar cases. The IRS had previously reported receiving 476 of these submissions in fiscal 2008. Scott A. Knott, a Tax Partner at The Ferraro Law Firm, which has over $64 billion in tax whistleblower submissions, feels that "record high tax reserves reported by Fortune 500 companies coupled with moderate submission rates have created the best time for well-informed whistleblowers to come forward."

In the report, the IRS notes that it has yet to pay an award under the new program. Stephen Whitlock, Director of the IRS Whistleblower Office, recently stated that he expects the first awards to be paid in 2011. "Once the awards start getting paid, the floodgates will open," said Gregory S. Lynam, also a Tax Partner of the firm. "The IRS could have a hard time handling all of the submissions they are going to receive," said Lynam.

As shown in the "Ferraro 500" list, a reordering of The Fortune 500 by tax reserves compiled by The Ferraro Law Firm, which is available at www.tax-whistleblower.com/ferraro500/, there is approximately $200 billion of uncertain tax positions for those companies alone. "Those who come forward now with information regarding significant tax underpayments are more likely to receive awards than those who wait because awards are given to the informant who first provides the information to the IRS," said Knott.

The Ferraro Law Firm's Tax Partners Knott and Lynam joined the firm at the end of July, 2007, from prominent Washington D.C. tax practices to focus exclusively on tax whistleblower cases. For more information on The Ferraro Law Firm's tax group and tax whistleblower submissions, call 1-800-275-3332 or visit www.tax-whistleblower.com.

SOURCE The Ferraro Law Firm