Irs Whistleblower Program Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of the IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and counterpart on tax policy, Mr. Thompson. We worked very closely on this. We have a genuine concern that we get this right, so the American people understand that we are not overlooking what is taking place.

Mr. Speaker, I also thank our committee chairman for his recognition of the important role whistleblowers play at the IRS and his support for getting the bill before the House today.

Our tax system depends on voluntary compliance, and that only works when Americans trust that the system is fair and enforced evenly. When bad actors cheat and get away with it, that trust erodes for everyone else who plays by the rules.

The IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act builds on a proven program that delivers results for our taxpayers. Since 2007, the program has recovered more than $7.37 billion in unpaid taxes, narrowing the tax gap and holding bad actors accountable.

This is real money returned to the Treasury that would otherwise have been lost. In many cases, these are complex, high-dollar schemes that would not have been identified without insider information, proving that whistleblowers play an essential role in upholding the integrity of our tax code.

When individuals come forward to expose wrongdoing by tax cheats and fraudsters, they help to ensure our volunteer tax system remains fair for all Americans.

The IRS cannot fully close the tax gap through traditional audits alone. The IRS Whistleblower Program leverages insider knowledge to identify noncompliance that would otherwise have gone undetected.

Whistleblowers help the IRS to target enforcement resources toward high-value cases, improving efficiency and accountability across the system. This program directs those resources toward the highest-value, highest-probability cases, maximizing the impact and improving efficiency. It allows the IRS to focus on those who are actively evading taxes, rather than casting a wide net over the vast majority of Americans who are trying to comply with the law.

Strengthening this program is a commonsense way to increase the return on an investment and recovering more unpaid taxes without expanding broad-based enforcement. Just as important, the program serves as a powerful deterrent, discouraging sophisticated tax evasion before it happens by increasing the likelihood that it would be exposed.

Mr. Speaker, this bill reinforces the program's foundation with targeted, practical updates by ensuring that the U.S. Tax Court can consider all relevant evidence by providing a more favorable standard of review in whistleblower appeals, establishing a presumption of anonymity for whistleblowers to help protect individuals from retaliation, encouraging timely administration from the IRS by requiring the payment of interest on delayed awards, strengthening transparency and oversight by improving reporting to Congress and allowing administrative review of award determinations, and aligning the tax treatment of attorneys' fees for whistleblowers with other whistleblower programs.

These reforms keep the program focused, predictable, and effective, addressing longstanding delays and improving program credibility.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Ways and Means Committee staff on both sides of the aisle for working so hard on this because they did a great job, not just for Mr. Thompson and myself but for all of the taxpayers. The American taxpayers deserve this oversight, and I am glad we are working on it. Mr. Thompson did a great job.

This bill passed out of the Ways and Means Committee last month with unanimous support, reflecting broad agreement on the need to strengthen this program. Ensuring a fair shake for all taxpayers is what it comes down to.

I thank the National Whistleblower Center, Empower Oversight, Taxpayers Against Fraud, the National Taxpayers Union, and other organizations who have spoken out in support of this bill. A strong whistleblower program is essential to a credible tax system, one that rewards honesty, deters misconduct, and holds bad actors accountable.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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