The IRS Whistleblower Office published their annual fiscal year (“FY”) report for 2024. Since the whistleblower program began in 2007, the agency has collected $7.37 billion as a result of whistleblower tips. FY 2024 saw an increase in award totals, but an overall decrease in the number of awards.

In FY 2024, the Whistleblower Office collected $474.4 million in proceeds attributable whistleblower information. Although the number of whistleblower awards decreased from 121 in FY 2023 to 105 in FY 2024, the total value of whistleblower awards increased 39% in 2024, reaching $123.5 million. The total represents the third highest amount paid in the program’s history.

A staggering 89% of awards were issued as a result of the disaggregation process, marking a decrease in the length of time to receive an award. This is further reflected in improvements to the award timelines made in FY 2024. Payments, on average, were issued by the office 48 days from the date when all regulatory requirements for an award were met. This marked a 28% improvement from FY 2023’s average of 67 days. Improvements to claim processing times were also seen. Processing times for IRC section 7623(b) claims decreased by 3.7% and processing times for IRC section 7623(a) claims decreased by 5.5%. Nevertheless, the average length of time from claim receipt to award payment remained more than 9 years, with the average time for an IRC section 7623(a) claim taking 9.8 years and an IRC section 7623(b) claim taking 10.87 years from start to finish.

However, initial processing times did improve in FY 2024. The Whistleblower Office received 5,660 new whistleblower submissions that were processed, on average, within 14 days of receipt. Compared to the prior four years, the number of new submissions received by the Office was up by 14%. The Whistleblower Office increased their full-time staff in 2024 from 49 full-time employees to 84. The top five most common allegations included in whistleblower tips include: (1) unreported or underreported income, (2) general fraud including things like tax fraud and wire fraud, (3) overstated or false tax deductions, (4) failure to file a tax return, and (5) under reported wages. The FY also saw improvements in the balance of uncollected assessments from closed claims. In FY 2023, $88.6 million in collection actions went uncollected whereas in FY 2024, $38.3 million went uncollected.

The FY also saw changes to timeliness of disclosures made by the Office to whistleblowers. Ninety-four percent of disclosures made to inform whistleblower of their matter being referred for an audit or exam were timely, compared to just 87.34% in FY 2023. However, timely disclosures of case status dropped from 100% to 95% and payment of tax notice disclosures dropped from 80.25% to 70%.

Time will tell on how these trends will hold, but one thing remains clear: whistleblowers provide  valuable contributions to the IRS’s efforts to combat fraud.

This piece was written by Devan Eaton, The Anti-Fraud Advocacy Fellow of TAF Coalition.