Tax Whistleblower Blog

IRS to Hire 800 New Agents to Fight Offshore Tax Shelters

President Obama has declares war on multi-national corporations’ use of offshore tax shelters.  President Obama announced an overhaul of the tax code to ”detect and pursue” U.S. tax evaders and go after their offshore tax shelters.  Taxpayers can expect more aggressive action by the IRS in pursuing cases submitted under the Tax Whistleblower Reward Program to close in on the $400 billion tax gap. 

In the 2010 budget proposed by President Obama, there is an increase of $400 million dollars for the IRS.  The IRS plans to increase its enforcement budget to $5.5 billion out of the total $12.12 billion IRS budget.

IRS Commissioner Shulman has been emphasizing the importance of greater enforcement as a method of closing the “tax gap.”  IRS Deputy Commission Stiff noted that these new agents are the “largest hiring initiative” in recent years.

With the record budget deficits, Washington faces three financial options.  The first is to increase taxes, the second to reduce spending and the third is to increase tax law enforcements.  The Whistleblower Program seems to be a logical place to start the ramped-up enforcement efforts.