Historically, IRS tax whistleblower cases have been both frustrating and unproductive. In a Bloomberg article in 2012, Michael Fitzgerald was quoted as saying a referral to the IRS of a whistleblower case is akin to being in “purgatory” since there had historically been little to no communication from the service. Well, that may all be changing now.
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Recently, there have been a number of articles on the New Jersey School Construction Corporation. The original “SCC” was charged with building schools in areas of need. However, many years later we are left to wonder about the success of the program. Pundits say that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent, with no real accounting. Supporters feel that schools have been completed in areas that might not have been otherwise helped.
The original “SCC” was abolished in 2007 and replaced by the School Construction Authority.
Governor Christie recently stopped payments on a Burlington County high school. The reason; the $27 million project was $17 million over budget. Where does all the money go? Some goes to acquiring property. However, in Gloucester City $13 million was spent acquiring 70 properties and no school has been built. In Camden, 34 properties were acquired and no school there either.
As a New Jersey Whistleblower Attorney I am truly amazing how long whistleblower cases can take! This is best exemplified by the recent IRS announcement of their FIRST award. The time lapse is interesting because the IRS established a whistleblower office in 2006. Nearly five years later, the IRS announces its first award to a whistleblower.
The facts are fairly interesting in that the whistleblower was actually an accountant. The accountant reported the underpayment of in excess of $20 million in taxes and interests from a financial services firm. At the time of the report, the accountant was working for the company he reported.
The “new” IRS program announced in 2006 was designed to encourage tips in larger cases and the awards to the person supplying the information can vary between 15% and 30% of the amount of money recovered by the IRS. The IRS awarded the whistleblower 22% of the taxes recovered.
New Jersey Whistleblower Lawyer Blog