Yes, you can get a reward for reporting tax evasion to the IRS Whistleblower Office (Internal Revenue Service), with awards generally 15–30% of the collected funds (taxes, penalties, interest) if the case involves significant amounts (over $2 million) and leads to successful recovery. To claim, file Form 211, Application for Award for Original Information, providing specific, credible details about the tax fraud or evasion.
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.
IRS Whistleblower Payouts
The average IRS tax fraud reward over the last two years is $1.08 million per whistleblower. 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.
Whistleblowers get paid a percentage of the money recovered by the government, typically 10% to 30%, depending on the agency (like the IRS, SEC, or CFTC) and program, with the amount reflecting the significance of their information and assistance. Some large payouts have reached hundreds of millions, while IRS rewards average over $1 million, but rewards can also be reduced or denied if the whistleblower was involved in the wrongdoing or sourced public info.
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, ...
If you have information about suspected tax fraud, evasion or tax law violation the IRS is authorized to administer, enforce or investigate, you may be eligible to submit a claim for a monetary award with the IRS Whistleblower Office.
If the Information leads to detection of duty evasion. maximum reward of 20% of the duty evaded plus 20% of the fine/penalty realised can be given as reward to the informers. There is also a provision for sanction of advance reward in suitable cases.
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.
Whistleblowers get paid a percentage of the money recovered by the government, typically 10% to 30%, depending on the agency (like the IRS, SEC, or CFTC) and program, with the amount reflecting the significance of their information and assistance. Some large payouts have reached hundreds of millions, while IRS rewards average over $1 million, but rewards can also be reduced or denied if the whistleblower was involved in the wrongdoing or sourced public info.
Potential Penalties
Imprisonment: A conviction can result in imprisonment for up to one year in county jail for misdemeanor tax evasion or up to three years in state prison for felony tax evasion. Fines: A fine of up to $20,000 for individuals and up to $100,000 for corporations.
There are several US whistleblower reward laws that allow whistleblowers to get paid significant monetary rewards for reporting fraud, financial misconduct, and other wrongdoings.
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.
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.
Whistleblowers get paid a percentage of the money recovered by the government, typically 10% to 30%, depending on the agency (like the IRS, SEC, or CFTC) and program, with the amount reflecting the significance of their information and assistance. Some large payouts have reached hundreds of millions, while IRS rewards average over $1 million, but rewards can also be reduced or denied if the whistleblower was involved in the wrongdoing or sourced public info.
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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.
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.
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.
QUANTUM AND CEILING OF REWARDS
4.1 Informers and Govt. servants will be eligible for reward upto 20% of the net sale-proceeds of the contraband goods seized and/or amount of duty evaded plus amount of fine and penalty levied/imposed and recovered. However, in respect of gold, silver, opium and other narcotic drugs etc.
The Income Tax Informants Reward Scheme, 2018, introduced by the CBDT, provides financial incentives, up to a maximum of ₹5 crores, to individuals who furnish specific, actionable information leading to the detection of substantial tax evasion under the Income Tax Act, 1961, or the Black Money Act, 2015.
The whole process can take five to seven years, or more, to complete. Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code says that taxpayer returns and return information are confidential. In general, the Whistleblower Office may only tell whistleblowers if their claim is open or closed.