The largest payout ever given to an informant, the $104 million awarded to Birkenfeld were part of the IRS’s whistleblower program, which rewards informants up to 30 percent of collected funds and fines from pursued claims. Around the time of the award, the IRS was seeking to shrink potential whistleblowers’ payout, which drew fierce criticism from a number of lawmakers. The IRS program, which was revamped in 2006 to offer higher rewards and incentives, was created to encourage informants to come forward with allegations of potential wrongdoings in an effort to help the agency recover an estimated $100 billion a year of underpaid taxes. 

The Federal Trade Commission, based in Washington, D.C., traditionally monitors businesses to protect consumers and other companies from unfair practices. In more recent years, however, the agency increasingly investigates and prosecutes businesses and individuals based on a variety of complaints. Cindy Liebes, a regional director with the FTC, said South Florida is the epicenter for complaints of identify theft, especially income tax fraud. 

Indian Americans and other South Asian Americans are being predominantly targeted by scam artists pretending to be Internal Revenue Service officials who threaten to send out an arrest warrant if money is not paid to them immediately over the phone, the Federal Trade Commission reported in a bulletin released Mar. 21. J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, also issued a warning to consumers the same day, indicating that more than 20,000 people have been victimized by this scam and have paid out over $1 million.

A report is out that the Internal Revenue Service of the US is, after all, running after Manny Pacquiao for unpaid taxes to the tune of $18.3 million (over P770 million) covering the period 2006 to 2010. TMZ, a popular TV show in the US covering the lives and saga of Hollywood celebrities and political personalities, said it has obtained documents to prove that Pacquiao’s camp failed to settle Pacquiao’s tax obligations in the US despite lucrative purses he got from fighting as a marquee fighter and a top pay per view (PPV) attraction during the period covered by the IRS levy.