U.S. tax whistle-blower collects $38 million from IRS: Lawyer

(Reuters) — The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has awarded $38 million to a whistle-blower for information about a tax dodge involving a large corporation, according to the informant's lawyers.

The Ferraro Law Firm, which represented the whistle-blower, would not identify its client or the corporation involved, saying only that it was a Fortune 500 company.

"The IRS never tipped their hand that they had a whistle-blower" while the agency was going over the corporation's books, said Ferraro lawyer Scott Knott.

The IRS sent the check last week, Knott said. He declined to say what percentage of the $38 million Ferraro took as a fee.

It is unknown how much money the IRS collected in additional taxes. But the agency could have collected up to $250 million, based on the law determining how much a whistle-blower can collect for information, which ranges between 15 and 30% of the tax recovery.

The case was filed in early 2008, after the IRS overhauled its whistle-blower office in 2006.