Accountant whistleblower who revealed Caterpillar tax issues could get $600 mill award largest ever

Financial whistleblower:

Daniel Schlicksup, an accountant who had been with Caterpillar Inc. for 16 years, tried to tell his bosses that it had illegally avoided more than $1 billion in taxes. No one seemed to listen.

Now, aided by documents provided by Schlicksup, the IRS, has determined that concluded in 2013 that Caterpillar had employed an “abusive” tax strategy; the agency later demanded $2 billion in back taxes and penalties. In 2014 a U.S. Senate investigative committee, with input from Schlicksup, questioned executives and determined that the company had avoided taxes on more than $8 billion in revenue.

In March 2017, agents from the IRS, Department of Commerce, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. raided the company offices in Illinois. They took documents, computers, encryption devices, and other evidence that might be related to “false and misleading financial reports and statements,” according to the warrants.

Under the IRS whistleblower program, the rewards can be as high as 30% of what the Government recovers. Given his extensive participation, if Mr. Schlicksup receives 30% of the $2 billion which the company may owe the Treasury, he would yield $600 million, making him the whistleblower with the highest award to date.

Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers nation-wide. He does not represent Mr. Schlicksup however.