An appeals court upheld the IRS’s denial of whistleblower awards in two separate cases on Friday.
In both cases, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said whistleblowers weren’t entitled to awards after the Internal Revenue Service made tax adjustments against taxpayers the whistleblowers identified, but based on issues they hadn’t raised.
Whistleblower Michael Lissack believed the information he submitted showed a condominium development group evaded taxes through its treatment of golf-club-membership deposits. The IRS determined the deposits were properly reported, but it ordered the group to pay a large tax adjustment tied to a deduction it ...