IR-2025-78, July 28, 2025

WASHINGTON — In anticipation of National Whistleblower Appreciation Day on July 30, the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office recognizes the important role whistleblowers continue to play in supporting the nation’s tax administration. Whistleblowers and the IRS Whistleblower Program are essential for promoting fairness and accountability and collecting funds from noncompliant taxpayers.

Since issuing its first award in 2007 through June 2025, the IRS has paid over $1.3 billion in awards based on the successful collection of $7.5 billion from noncompliant taxpayers.

“Whistleblowers serve as an invaluable deterrent against non-compliance with tax laws and are critical in our efforts to reduce the tax gap,” said acting Whistleblower Office Director Erick Martinez. “The IRS Whistleblower Office is committed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the IRS Whistleblower Program through improved service, responsiveness and modernization efforts.”

The IRS Whistleblower Office continues strategic efforts to improve processes and strengthen collaboration with all whistleblower program stakeholders. The office recently released its first multi-year operating plan PDF outlining strategic priorities, recent achievements and current initiatives to advance the program. Current efforts include streamlining award processes by building a new claim management system, working on a digital submission portal to make it easier to file whistleblower claims and direct deposit becoming the standard payment method for whistleblower awards.

In Fiscal Year 2024, the IRS paid awards totaling $123.5 million based on whistleblower information attributable to tax and other amounts collected of $474.7 million. In Fiscal Year 2024, the Whistleblower Office established 14,926 award claims, an increase of 13% compared to the average of the prior four years.

The IRS values the assistance it receives from whistleblowers, the whistleblower practitioner community and whistleblower submissions that the IRS can act on. Actionable claims contain specific, timely, significant and credible information. A whistleblower may qualify for an award when the use of the whistleblower’s information results in proceeds collected. The awards paid to whistleblowers generally range between 15 and 30% of the proceeds collected attributable to their information.

The IRS Whistleblower Office was established in 2007 to administer claims from whistleblowers that identify taxpayers who may not be complying with tax laws or other laws the IRS administers, enforces or investigates.

National Whistleblower Appreciation Day is recognized on July 30 because the Continental Congress passed America’s first whistleblower law on July 30, 1778. The first law related to whistleblowers on tax violations was enacted almost 90 years later in March 1867.