The US Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) in the notice IR-2024-307 on 5 December 2024 published its Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Annual Report that details significant cases involving crimes ranging from tax fraud to cybercrime, enhanced domestic and foreign partnerships and investigative statistics from FY24 that took place from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024.

This year’s report highlights several firsts for the agency – the first sentencings tied to syndicated conservation easement schemes, the first indictment and guilty plea of a US taxpayer solely for not paying taxes on gains from cryptocurrency sales, the first time Treasury agencies have led a task force and public outreach series to combat fentanyl trafficking, and a historic financial settlement by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange for violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.

In FY24, IRS-CI initiated more than 2,667 criminal investigations, obtained 1,571 convictions, and reclaimed its 90% conviction rate. The agency’s investigative work identified over USD 9.1 billion in fraud from tax and financial crimes, obtained court orders totaling USD 1.7 billion in restitution to the IRS and seized criminal assets totaling approximately USD 1.2 billion.

Other significant items in this year’s annual report include:

• IRS-CI extended the agency’s international footprint by launching a new attaché post in Nassau, Bahamas, and a Cyber attaché post in Singapore.
• The International Training Team delivered more than 30 training sessions to over 930 participants from more than 70 countries. These trainings play a critical role in global partnerships and investigations.
• Combatting cybercrime continued to be a focus for the agency. In FY24 alone, IRS-CI initiated 111 new cybercrime investigations, and defendants in these cases continue to receive prison sentences averaging more than five years.

The report also includes case examples for each US field office, details about the specialised services provided by IRS-CI, and additional statistics about the agency for FY24.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more.