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IRS’s “Trust Me, it Wasn’t Yours” Defense Doesn’t Fly, Designated Orders 3/11 – 3/15/2019

Posted on Apr. 16, 2019

There were only two orders designated during the week of March 11. The most interesting of the two contains the quote from where the title of this post originates and is potentially a step in the right direction for the whistleblower petitioner. The second order (here) was a bench opinion for an individual non-filer.

In Docket No. 101-18W, Richard G. Saffire, Jr. v. C.I.R. (order here), Judge Armen is not impressed with IRS’s dodgy behavior. The IRS objected to petitioner’s previously filed motion to compel the production of documents, so petitioner is back before the Court with a reply countering that objection. Based on the iteration of what parties have agreed upon and what the record has established, it seems as though the IRS dropped the ball while reviewing petitioner’s whistleblower claim.

Petitioner is a retired CPA from New York and his whistleblower claim involved an investment company (the target taxpayer), a related entity (the advisor) and allegations of an improperly claimed tax exempt status. The claim was received in January of 2012. After it was submitted, but before it was formally acknowledged, petitioner also met with IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division.

In June 2012, the IRS determined that the claim met the procedural requirements under section 7623(b) and the ball was then passed to the IRS’s compliance function to determine whether the IRS should proceed with an exam or investigation.

In August two attorneys from IRS’s counsel’s office in the Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TEGE) Division, as well as a revenue agent from the TEGE Division, held a lengthy conference call with petitioner at the IRS’s request. According to petitioner, none of the IRS employees acted as though they had heard about the target taxpayer, its advisor, or issues raised by the claim previously. After the call, the IRS requested additional information which petitioner provided at the beginning of September 2012.

A technical review of the claim was completed at the end of September 2012, and the ball was again passed, this time to an IRS operating division for field assignment.

This is where the ball was apparently dropped as far as the claim itself was concerned. For five years petitioner did not receive any concrete information about the claim other than the fact that it was still open, but during that time petitioner learned from public information sources that a large amount of money was collected from the target taxpayer and that the SEC collected more than $1 million from the advisor.

Then in September 2017 petitioner received a preliminary denial letter followed by a final determination denying the claim because the IRS stated the issues raised by petitioner were identified in an ongoing exam prior to receiving petitioner’s information, petitioner’s information did not substantially contribute to the actions taken and there were no changes in the IRS approach to the issue after reviewing petitioner’s information.

Petitioner petitioned the Court. Three months later the Court granted the parties’ joint motion for a protective order allowing respondent to disclose returns, return information and taxpayer return information (as defined in section 6103(b)(1), (2) and (3)) related to the claim.  

Then petitioner requested the administrative file and five categories of documents related to the case. The IRS provided the administrative file, but it was heavily redacted and a large portion of the unredacted parts consisted of copies of the petitioner’s submission. IRS Counsel also sent information on three of the five categories, but it said that two of the categories of documents (regarding the exam of the target taxpayer and its advisor and communications between the IRS and SEC) were outside the scope of the administrative file, irrelevant to the instant litigation and were protected third-party information under section 6103.

IRS acknowledges that section 6103(h)(4)(B) permits disclosure in a Federal judicial proceeding if the treatment of an item on a taxpayer’s return is directly related to the resolution of an issue in the proceeding.

This is where the IRS’s “trust me- it wasn’t yours” defense comes into play. The IRS says the information does not bear on the issue of whether petitioner is entitled to an award because respondent did not use any of petitioner’s information. In other words, the IRS refuses to show the petitioner what information it used to investigate and collect from the target taxpayer, because it wasn’t the petitioner’s information that was used. The IRS also argues that the petitioner’s request is overbroad and unduly burdensome.

The Court finds this explanation insufficient and grants petitioner’s motion to compel discovery (with some limitations) finding that most of the documents that petitioner requests are directly relevant to deciding whether petitioner is entitled to a whistleblower award, and therefore, discoverable. The Court suggests that the information petitioner requests should be disclosed pursuant to section 6103(h)(4)(B). The Court allows respondent to redact some information (mainly, identifying information about the alleged second referral source), but orders respondent to provide an individual and specific basis for each redaction.

It’s a little odd that IRS has been so reluctant to provide the petitioner with information, but it doesn’t necessarily suggest that the reason is because petitioner is in fact entitled to an award. Now that the Court has intervened, hopefully the information will provide petitioner with a satisfactory answer as to why the IRS denied his award.

 

 

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