S. 2055 · 117th Congress
IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act of 2021
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Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 117th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.
R
GrassleySponsor1 cosponsor · 1 D
1 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.
This bill modifies provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to whistleblower protections. Specifically, the bill
What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in Senate · Jun 15, 2021
IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act of 2021
This bill modifies provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to whistleblower protections. Specifically, the bill
- revises the standard for review of whistleblower awards in the Tax Court to require a de novo review standard (currently, the standard is abuse of discretion);
- exempts whistleblower awards from reductions due to budget sequestration;
- establishes a rebuttable presumption that whistleblowers would suffer harm if their identities were disclosed in a Tax Court proceeding;
- modifies the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower report to require inclusion of a list and description of the top 10 tax avoidance schemes disclosed by whistleblowers;
- requires the IRS to pay interest on whistleblower awards if not paid within one year of receipt of proceeds collected from whistleblower disclosures,
- allows the IRS to retain 3% of whistleblower proceeds (up to $10 million) to pay administrative costs of the whistleblower program; and
- allows payment of the attorney fees of whistleblowers regardless of whether the whistleblower award was paid through the mandatory or the discretionary whistleblower award program.
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov
About this bill and sources
Official title: IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act of 2021
Latest action (Jun 15, 2021): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Policy area: Taxation · Origin: Senate · Introduced: Jun 15, 2021
Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)
No recorded floor vote found.