Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley issued this press release today:

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa has asked the IRS and the Treasury Department to answer a detailed series of questions aimed at understanding why the IRS whistleblower office has been so slow in processing cases and making rewards.  Grassley expressed his “extreme disappointment in the management of the program” in a letter to the agency.

“The IRS does not have a problem attracting whistleblowers,” Grassley said.  “The IRS has a problem processing whistleblower information and compensating whistleblowers in a timely manner.  I’m hearing frustration from whistleblowers, and my worst fears are coming true.  The lack of progress is demoralizing whistleblowers, and they might stop coming forward.  That would be a bad outcome for the taxpayers.”

Grassley’s latest inquiry was prompted in part by revelations that the director of the IRS whistleblower program was a panelist at the Offshore Alert Conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Miami Beach.  “It seems the whistleblower office director’s time might be better spent reviewing hundreds of existing cases instead of attending a conference that isn’t directed at potential whistleblowers,” Grassley said.

Grassley wrote to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to seek a status update on several benchmarks that would indicate progress in the whistleblower program. The letter is the latest step in Grassley’s oversight of the whistleblower office.

• Sen. Grassley Letter to IRS Commissioner Shulman, Treasury Secretary Geithner (Apr. 30, 2012)
• IRS Commissioner Shulman Letter to Sen. Grassley (Nov. 22, 2011)
• Sen. Grassley Letter to IRS Commissioner Shulman (Sept. 13, 2011)
• Sen. Grassley Letter to treasury Secretary Geithner (June 21, 2010)

CNBC, IRS Presence at OffshoreAlert Conference Criticized:

We're standing by the pool at the Ritz Carlton in Florida's South Beach, attendees at a financial conference here mingle by the bar and wander through meeting rooms upstairs.

This isn’t just any industry conference — it’s the tenth annual OffshoreAlert gathering, bringing together financial advisors, Cayman Islands and other offshore bankers, and government officials.

“This is the 'Star Wars' bar of off-shore finance,” says one attendee by the pool bar, quoting a description of the event that’s appeared in the press. “Everybody’s here.”

But it was the presence of 19 IRS officials at the conference earlier this week that attracted the attention — and criticism — of Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a former chairman of the Finance Committee.

While the IRS said the officials were learning the ins and outs of the latest offshore tax avoidance strategies and delivering a message of compliance with U.S. laws, Grassley thought that far too many U.S. government officials to be hanging around this particular Cantina. “There is certainly no reason for 19 IRS employees to attend the conference,” Grassley wrote in a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Monday. “In a challenging fiscal time, this is not the best use of IRS resources.” …

The IRS said it did try to minimize costs, saying seven of those attending were based locally and none of the other 12 IRS stayed at the Ritz Carlton — one even bunked with his parents. The others roomed at a nearby Courtyard Marriott.The conference itself was free for speakers — there were five IRS officials scheduled to address the group — but the tax agency says it paid more than $1,300 each in attendance fees for 13 officials, incurring expenses of under $18,000, according to the IRS.

Update: Forbes, Sen. Grassley to IRS: Whistleblower Office Is a Disgrace