ATLANTA,GA
DULUTH, GA
A wave of new “whistleblower” laws continues, inspired by the successes of the federal False Claims Act. These new laws include (1) state versions of the federal False Claims Act, and (2) the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program. At the same time, in 2008 Congress is considering legislation to strengthen the False Claims Act.
(more…)(Updated) For a national conference of employment lawyers, I was asked to participate in a panel discussion of “Strategic Thinking in Whistleblower Cases” and to explain the new IRS Whistleblower Program.
(more…)Bogus tax shelters and other tax fraud and evasion are among the common reports by tax whistleblowers to whistleblower attorneys. Today, the government launched a new, coordinated federal effort by the IRS, the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorneys to stop fraudulent tax claims, frivolous tax returns, and bogus tax schemes.
Quoting former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ famous observation that “[t]axes are what we pay for a civilized society,” Nathan J. Hochman, the Tax Division’s Assistant Attorney General, announced
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Today saw a major development that could affect every whistleblower, whistleblower attorney, and whistleblower case involving the False Claims Act, the nation’s primary whistleblower law. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today approved new legislation to restore the False Claims Act to its originally intended strength, by eliminating a series of “loopholes” that dishonest government contractors had used to avoid liability.
Our whistleblower lawyer blog has written extensively about the False Claims Act, the qui tam statute that allows private citizens to report
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The new IRS Whistleblower Program authorized by Congress in December 2006 continued its progress this week, with the IRS’s announcement yesterday approving the use of contingent fee arrangements in retaining tax whistleblower attorneys.
Our whistleblower lawyer blog has followed the development of the new IRS Whistleblower Program since its infancy. The new tax whistleblower provisions are extremely important in the fight to protect taxpayer funds from fraud and other violations of the law.
In this March 27, 2008 announcement, Notice 2008-43, the
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The IRS this week announced another interesting development in its new IRS Whistleblower Program, which this whistleblower lawyer blog has followed closely. This announcement addressed new regulations permitting the IRS to share tax return information with whistleblowers and their lawyers under written contracts with the IRS, and also to advise those whistleblowers and their attorneys about the status of their whistleblower claims.
On March 25, 2008, the IRS announced new, temporary regulations permitting “disclosure of [tax] return information . . . to
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The Justice Department has announced that Besler & Company, Inc., a New Jersey health care consulting firm, and its principal Philip Besler, have agreed to settle allegations of fraud against the federal Medicare program, which were initiated by two qui tam whistleblower cases. The settlement is for $2.875 million, plus interest, paid to the federal government.
The settlement concludes that the Besler firm counseled hospital clients to improperly increase charges to Medicare patients, so that they would obtain enhanced reimbursement from Medicare.
Medicare pays supplemental
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The new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program continues to take shape, as the IRS’s Chief Counsel has advised IRS employees on the contacts they may have with certain whistleblowers or “informants.”
The new IRS Whistleblower Program for tax whistleblowers is an exciting development. It has brought together a team of extremely qualified professionals at the IRS, and has provided them the legal means to create an effective whistleblower program.
This Notice (CC-2008-011) addresses what contacts IRS employees may have with (1) informants with information about their current employer; and (2) informants who act as a taxpayer’s representative in an IRS examination or other IRS matter.
(more…)Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on a much-needed bill that will restore to its intended effectiveness the government’s primary law for combating fraud.
Our whistleblower lawyer blog has written previously about the “False Claims Act Correction Act.” The Act is one of the most significant developments in whistleblower law since the 1986 amendments that created the modern False Claims Act.
This is a bipartisan bill designed to restore the government’s “primary” tool for fighting fraud against taxpayers,
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The trend of new state False Claims Acts with qui tam whistleblower provisions continues, as Louisiana considers whether to adopt its own version of the federal False Claims Act.
The growing number of state False Claims Acts has been a frequent topic of this whistleblower lawyer blog. In 2007, New York, Georgia, and Oklahoma joined the 16 other states that have enacted versions of the federal False Claims Act, the government’s primary weapon for fighting fraud against
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