Calculator Methodology

Published by The Click Lab Agency LLC. Last reviewed September 2026. Not legal advice.

This page documents every formula, statutory reference, and assumption used in the whistleblower award calculator. Understanding the methodology helps you assess how reliable the estimate is for your situation and what variables the calculator cannot model.

Step 1: Statutory Award Ranges by Program

Each whistleblower program establishes a mandatory award range as a percentage of sanctions collected. The calculator applies these statutory ranges as its foundation:

• SEC Whistleblower Program (Dodd-Frank Act §21F): 10%–30% of sanctions exceeding $1,000,000. Authority: 15 U.S.C. §78u-6. Administered by the SEC Office of the Whistleblower. The award rules run from 17 C.F.R. §240.21F-1 through §240.21F-18.
• CFTC Whistleblower Program (Dodd-Frank Act §748): 10%–30% of sanctions exceeding $1,000,000. Authority: 7 U.S.C. §26. Administered through Whistleblower.gov. The rules are in 17 C.F.R. Part 165. The program was modeled on the SEC’s.
• IRS Whistleblower Program (IRC §7623(b)): 15%–30% of collected proceeds where the amount in dispute (taxes, penalties, and interest) exceeds $2,000,000, and, for an individual taxpayer, gross income exceeds $200,000. The IRS Whistleblower Office administers it. A discretionary track, §7623(a), applies below those thresholds. The calculator reports that track separately, as Step 5 describes, rather than applying the mandatory band.
• False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§3729–3733): 31 U.S.C. §3730(d) sets 15%–25% of the recovery when the government intervenes, and 25%–30% when the government declines and the relator proceeds alone. The calculator asks which of those happened and applies that band. There is no minimum dollar threshold.
• FinCEN whistleblower program: 10%–30% of sanctions exceeding $1,000,000, under 31 U.S.C. §5323. The agency’s description is the FinCEN whistleblower program. The calculator does not offer FinCEN as a selectable program. The band is listed here because the case-types page discusses it, and because readers otherwise fold Bank Secrecy Act matters into the SEC program.

Step 2: Threshold Check

The SEC, CFTC, and IRS programs require minimum sanctions or disputed amounts before the mandatory award range applies. The calculator checks these thresholds:

• SEC and CFTC: sanctions must exceed $1,000,000 in the related action for the mandatory 10%–30% range to apply. Below this threshold, awards are entirely discretionary and typically unavailable.
• IRS: the amount in dispute (taxes plus penalties plus interest) must exceed $2,000,000, under §7623(b). Below this threshold, the §7623(a) discretionary track applies, with awards of up to 15% at the agency's discretion.
• FCA: no minimum threshold. The FCA applies to any fraudulent claim against the federal government regardless of dollar amount, though practically speaking, attorneys pursue cases with meaningful recovery potential.

Step 3: Adjustment Factors

Within the statutory range, agencies exercise discretion based on factors that increase or decrease the award percentage. The calculator models these adjustments based on the contribution and cooperation inputs:

Contribution level: High contribution (original, specific, credible tip that was the primary basis for enforcement) trends toward the upper end of the range. Medium contribution (significant but partial) reduces the estimate by approximately 5 percentage points. Low contribution (helpful but not primary basis) reduces it by approximately 10 percentage points.

Cooperation level: Full cooperation throughout the investigation (providing documents, participating in interviews, assisting enforcement) trends toward the upper bound. Partial cooperation reduces the estimate by approximately 2 percentage points. Limited cooperation (minimal beyond the initial tip) reduces it by approximately 5 percentage points.

These adjustments reflect the factors the agencies themselves have identified as award-enhancing or award-reducing in their published rules and award orders. SEC factors are codified at 17 C.F.R. §240.21F-6. IRS factors are codified at 26 C.F.R. §301.7623-4. IRS Notice 2008-4 is the earlier notice; the regulation is the rule the calculator is approximating. The percentage-point shifts are our summary of those factors, not a weight the agencies publish.

Step 4: Collected versus ordered, and the FCA intervention split

Every program pays on money actually collected. SEC and CFTC awards are paid from the Investor Protection Fund or the CFTC Customer Protection Fund as a percentage of sanctions collected in the covered action and any related action; a judgment that is never paid produces no award. IRS awards under §7623 are paid only from “collected proceeds,” and only after the taxpayer’s appeal rights are exhausted, which is why IRS awards routinely take five to ten years. The calculator therefore asks for the amount likely to be collected, not the amount ordered or the size of the fraud. For the False Claims Act, the calculator asks whether the Department of Justice intervened, because 31 U.S.C. §3730(d) sets different bands: 15–25% of the proceeds if the government proceeds with the action, 25–30% if the relator proceeds alone. In either case the relator’s share is computed on the government’s recovery after trebling and penalties as finally settled or adjudicated.

Step 5: The IRS discretionary track

Where the amount in dispute is $2 million or less (or the taxpayer is an individual with gross income of $200,000 or less), a claim falls outside §7623(b) and into the discretionary program under §7623(a). Awards there are capped at 15% of collected proceeds and $10 million, and the IRS may decline to pay anything. The calculator reports a $0-to-cap range for those cases rather than applying the mandatory band. Under §7623(b)(2), a mandatory-track award is also reduced to a maximum of 10% where the information came principally from public sources such as court filings or news reports.

Step 6: Rule 21F-6 factors and their analogues

The contribution and cooperation adjustments approximate the factors the SEC codified at 17 C.F.R. §240.21F-6. Factors that may increase an award: the significance of the information to the success of the action; the degree of assistance provided; the law-enforcement interest in deterring the type of violation; and participation in the company’s internal compliance systems. Factors that may decrease it: culpability in the violation; unreasonable reporting delay; and interference with internal compliance and reporting. The CFTC mirrors these at 17 C.F.R. §165.9. The IRS applies positive and negative factors at 26 C.F.R. §301.7623-4, including a reduction where the whistleblower “planned and initiated” the underlying conduct. The Department of Justice’s relator-share guidelines for FCA cases, described on its False Claims Act page, weigh similar considerations, along with whether the relator’s complaint was the first filed and whether the allegations were already publicly disclosed, both of which can bar a relator entirely under §3730(b) and (e).

Known Limitations

• Award priority and competing claimants: When multiple whistleblowers report the same violation, the agency typically makes a single award per enforcement action and allocates it among claimants based on their relative contributions. The calculator models a single claimant and cannot estimate the dilution effect of competing claims.
• Reduction factors not modeled: Awards can be reduced for: unreasonable delay in reporting; interference with internal compliance programs; prior criminal convictions related to the conduct reported; and culpability in the violation itself. The calculator does not apply these reductions.
• IRS discretion: IRS awards are subject to greater agency discretion than SEC/CFTC awards, and the IRS Whistleblower Office has historically exercised that discretion to award lower percentages than the statutory range might suggest. The calculator applies the statutory range.
• Collection risk: IRS awards are paid only on “collected proceeds.” If the IRS assesses tax but cannot collect it, no award is paid. SEC and CFTC awards are paid from sanctions collected, not ordered. The calculator does not estimate that risk. It uses the dollar amount you enter, which the form asks you to state as the amount likely to be collected. If you type the amount ordered, the estimate is high by whatever share of that judgment goes unpaid.
• Related actions: SEC and CFTC awards can include a percentage of sanctions in "related actions" by other agencies (DOJ, state regulators). The calculator uses only the primary enforcement action sanctions.
• FCA intervention decision: The government's decision to intervene or decline significantly affects both the award percentage and the likelihood of recovery. The calculator cannot predict intervention probability.
• Narrow False Claims Act bands: The contribution and cooperation adjustments were sized for the wider SEC, CFTC, and IRS ranges (10 to 20 percentage points). Each False Claims Act band is only five points wide, so the same shifts can collapse the displayed result to a single percentage inside the statutory band. With the form's default “high” contribution and “full” cooperation, a declined case displays 30% of the amount entered, which is the top of the 25–30% band, not the whole band. The program table on the calculator page states the statutory band. Use that band, not a collapsed result, when you want the range the statute allows.

Sources

• Securities Exchange Act §21F, 15 U.S.C. §78u-6; 17 C.F.R. §240.21F-1 through §240.21F-18; SEC Office of the Whistleblower (annual reports to Congress are published from that office)
• Commodity Exchange Act §23, 7 U.S.C. §26; 17 C.F.R. Part 165; Whistleblower.gov
• 26 U.S.C. §7623; 26 C.F.R. §301.7623-1 through §301.7623-4; IRS Whistleblower Office annual reports; Form 211 filing instructions
• False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §3729 and §3730; DOJ Civil Division False Claims Act page, which publishes the annual recovery statistics
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act §806, 18 U.S.C. §1514A; Dodd-Frank anti-retaliation, 15 U.S.C. §78u-6(h)
• 31 U.S.C. §5323 and the FinCEN whistleblower program

Changelog

• October 2026. Linked the statutes, rules, and agency pages cited above. Corrected the False Claims Act bullet so it matches the calculator: separate 15–25% and 25–30% bands, not a single 15–30% range. Clarified that the tool does not haircut the dollar amount you enter for collection risk. Noted that FinCEN is described here and is not a choice in the calculator. Noted that the adjustment factors can collapse those five-point False Claims Act bands to a single percentage.
• September 2026. Added the FCA intervention question and separate 15–25% / 25–30% bands. Added the IRS §7623(a) discretionary track and the public-source 10% cap. Reframed the sanctions input as the amount collected. Added three worked examples and a program comparison table to the calculator page, the Rule 21F-6 factor discussion, sources, and this changelog. Removed a stray reviewer credit from the footer.
• May 2026. Initial methodology with statutory ranges, threshold check, and adjustment factors.

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