The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Whistleblower Office was established in 2006 to process tips from people who witness illegal tax activity, and the IRS pays whistleblowers monetary rewards that are 15% to 30% of the tax funds that are recovered as a result of their tips. In 2013, it was estimated that the IRS paid whistleblowers more than $53 million US Dollars (USD) in reward money. To qualify for a whistleblower reward from the IRS, the tip provided must be about individual taxpayers who gross at least $200,000 USD annually or corporations that gross at least $2 million USD annually.
More about taxes in the US:
- It is estimated that up to 90% of Americans who employ personal home workers, such as health aides or babysitters, don’t correctly report them on their taxes.
- About 7.6 billion hours is spent each year in the US doing taxes.
- From the early 1900s to the early 2000s, the length of the US tax code increased by more than 16,000% in terms of the number of pages.