March 14th, 2011

On Monday, the IRS released final regulations regarding disclosure of return information by the Treasury Department in connection with written contracts among the IRS, whistleblowers and, if applicable, their legal representatives.

The new IRS Whistleblower Office may determine during the course of an investigation that it needs the assistance of a whistleblower or the whistleblower’s legal representative and may determine that it has to disclose returns or return information in order for the whistleblower to be able to render assistance. Such disclosures are authorized for tax administration purposes by IRC § 6103(n).

The final regulations issued in TD 9516 describe the circumstances under which officers and employees of the Treasury Department may disclose return information to whistleblowers and, if applicable, their legal representatives, in connection with written contracts for services relating to the detection of violations of the internal revenue laws or related statutes.

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