Congress has enacted a new law which has strong protections for tax whistleblowers which protects whistleblower privacy, advances the speed of investigation and completion of the process and builds strong new protections against whistleblower retaliation. The changes in the IRS Whistleblower program include:
- Authorizing the IRS to communicate with whistleblowers during their claims period;
- Protecting taxpayer privacy;
- Creating anti-retaliation provisions.
The new law requires the IRS to provide information about the status of the claim and also within 60 days after payment is made to the Government on a whistleblower claim to provide notice of such payment to the whistleblower.
Significantly, the new law prohibits a wide range of retaliatory acts against a whistleblower including termination or discharging, harassing, threatening, demoting, suspending or any other discrimination against a whistleblower relating to the terms and conditions of employment. The remedies for retaliation include reinstatement, double back pay, uncapped special damages and attorneys fees and litigation costs. The statute of limitations for a whistleblower retaliation claim under the new law is 180 days and must be filed initially with OSHA.
