Yes, you can get money for reporting tax fraud to the IRS Whistleblower Office, with awards typically 15–30% of the collected proceeds, but only if the information is specific, leads to significant recovery (over $2 million), and the taxpayer meets income thresholds, requiring you to file Form 211 for a monetary claim. Reporting general tax evasion with Form 3949-A does not qualify for a reward, only specific claims for awards are eligible for payment.
In general, the IRS pays an award from 15 to 30% of the proceeds collected that are attributable to the information submitted by the whistleblower. The award percentage decreases for claims based on information from public sources or if the whistleblower planned and initiated the actions that led to the noncompliance.
IRS Whistleblower Payouts
The IRS can pay 15% to 30% of the case recovery for mandatory awards, and up to 15% for discretionary awards. The IRS has averaged just over 20% paid to whistleblowers over the last 2 years.
An award worth between 15 and 30 percent of the total proceeds that IRS collects could be paid, if the IRS moves ahead based on the information provided. Under the law, these awards will be paid when the amount identified by the whistleblower (including taxes, penalties and interest) is more than $2 million.
Whistleblower rewards are paid for reporting fraud against the government, such as Medicare or military fraud. Congress authorized the government to pay whistleblower rewards for reporting fraud of between 15% and 30% of the amount of money the government collects based upon a whistleblower's information.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission's reports, the largest SEC whistleblower award in history, reaching nearly $279 million, was given to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to successful SEC enforcement and related actions.
Whistleblower claim for award
The office pays monetary awards to eligible individuals whose information is used by the IRS. The award amount generally is 15 to 30% of the proceeds collected and attributable to the whistleblower's information.
Amount of Reward to the Informer – The Informer's reward shall be equivalent to ten percent (10%) of the taxes and penalties (or compromise amount, in case of compromise settlement ) actually collected as a result of the Confidential Information, or One Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00) per case, whichever is lower, ...
The IRS "10k rule" primarily refers to the requirement for businesses and financial institutions to report cash transactions over $10,000 by filing Form 8300 (for businesses) or a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) (for banks), under the Bank Secrecy Act. This rule helps combat money laundering, tax evasion, and terrorist financing, requiring reporting for single transactions or related transactions totaling over $10,000 in cash within a year, with penalties for non-compliance.
In fact, for a matter to be eligible for an IRS whistleblower award, the monetary sanction (penalties, tax and interest) must meet a $2 million threshold. In addition, when reporting violations committed by an individual, the bad actor must have earned a gross income over $200,000 in one of the tax years at issue.
Someone you report to the IRS might find out, especially if the information leads to a significant investigation or award, but the IRS has strong confidentiality laws and will protect your identity to the fullest extent possible, particularly if you provide an award-eligible tip; for anonymous tips, they won't know it came from you, but you won't get a reward. Your identity is generally protected, but IRS investigations can reveal details, and if you claim an award (Form 211), your identity becomes known to the IRS.
A sum of money, also called financial compensation or compensatory award. This is the most common remedy in whistleblowing cases, and this is what this webpage is mostly about. Unlike other areas of employment law there is no limit (or cap) on the amount of money that can be awarded in whistleblowing cases.
The time between the submission of a whistleblower tip and when an individual may receive payment of an award can be several years, particularly where the underlying investigation is especially complex, litigation is lengthy, there are multiple, competing award claims, or there are claims for related actions.
The "20k rule" refers to the traditional IRS threshold for reporting income from payment apps and online marketplaces on Form 1099-K: over $20,000 in gross payments AND more than 200 transactions in a calendar year. While a law (the American Rescue Plan) temporarily lowered the threshold to $600, recent legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) (OBBBA), has reinstated the $20,000/200-transaction rule for tax years starting in 2025, providing relief for casual sellers and gig workers.
What is a 1099-K form? IRS Form 1099-K is a tax document that reports any payments you received through third-party networks like Venmo, PayPal, or Apple Pay. If you receive more than $20,000 in at least 200 transactions through these platforms, you'll likely get a 1099-K.
Under most whistleblower reward laws, a whistleblower can receive an award of up to 30% of the monetary sanctions collected in a successful enforcement action. The largest SEC whistleblower award to date is $279 million.
If you remain confidential, it may be more difficult to demonstrate that your employer knew about your whistleblowing, which can help to prove retaliation. Yet, going public may expose you to professional isolation, public scrutiny, expensive defamation suits, and even threats to your safety.
The Internal Revenue Service's whistleblower office incentivizes people to report tax evasion and other tax law violations. The IRS Whistleblower Program rewards whistleblowers by paying 15 to 30% of government recoveries that result from the whistleblower's reporting to the IRS Whistleblower Program.
Proving a whistleblower claim requires establishing you engaged in a protected activity (reporting wrongdoing) and faced an adverse action (like firing or demotion), then linking the two, often using a timeline showing close proximity between your report and the employer's action, alongside strong evidence like financial records, emails, policy violations, and witness statements that show the employer's knowledge and retaliatory intent, eventually overcoming the employer's defense that they would have acted the same way anyway.
Whistleblowing is only meant for reporting criminal offences, regulatory breaches, health and safety (including environmental) breaches, or cover-ups. You will be protected by law if you're reporting any of the above.