A whistleblower and former UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, will collect $104 million from the IRS for his role in helping the agency catch tax cheats using Swiss bank accounts. Birkenfeld helped UBS recruit clients for UBS to hide taxable income in secret Swiss bank accounts. The information that he provided as a whistleblower caused UBS to pay a fine of $780 million and to turn over the names of 4500 clients using the secret bank accounts. The New York Times reports further: Whistleblower Awarded $104 Million by IRS.
Congress in 2006 passed laws that allow whistleblowers that report tax cheating and evasion to receive up to 30% of the amount of fines and back taxes that the IRS later collects from the tax cheat.
