Blowing the whistle to help the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) identify income earners who strategically evade tax payments is not something people dream of doing. Even the fact that there is a reasonable amount of incentive the IRS Whistleblower Program allocates to compensate whistleblowers, the risk of retaliation from affected parties can have detrimental effect not only to your personal life but your career as well. When faced with this kind of situation, the most recommended thing to do is to seek help from experienced whistleblower lawyers. But, putting this part of the issue aside, becoming a whistleblower, although seen as a bit risky by many, have its own reasonable monetary benefits.
How Much You Can Gain from Being a Whistleblower?
If your main motivation in becoming an IRS Whistleblower is the monetary incentive, then you should be well aware how much you can gain after you successfully reported a violator.
According to the federal False Claims Act, you can get around 15 to 30% of anything the IRS has recovered including the damages and civil fines. This means that the reward you can get is highly dependent on how much the federal government can recover.
For example, if the IRS can recover a total amount of $1,000,000.00 then you’ll be rewarded 30% of that, which is $300,000. This can potentially boost your financial stability and can help you pay existing loans and debts. But, it is worthy to note that in most cases, especially if the fraud you reported only involve individuals, the incentive won’t be that big.
Are You Protected Against the Retaliation from the Affected Parties?
This is very important because this would secure your safety from those who are involved in the fraud (you reported). What would you do if those people will get back to you and would cause havoc to your personal and professional life? Good thing a provision to protect whistleblowers like you is amended in the False Claim Act.
The False Claim act provides protections by making sure your name cannot be known by the accused party. The IRS and the whistleblower attorney (you hired) will make sure that your identity won’t be leaked while the investigation about the case is still going on. But, in cases that it will be discovered, such as if the affected party got hints that it is you who reported them, any types of retaliation would require compensation.
Conclusion
Exposing violations of law such as tax evasion should be a responsibility for each and every citizen. Unfortunately, the level of apathy in today’s America is quite rampant. Taking a stand against violators by becoming a whistleblower deserves more than monetary reward. The thought that you have helped your country by exposing fraudulent activities that can hinder the growth of our economy is an act not just of patriotism but of love as well.
