"I can't remember the exact penalty, but $25K sticks in my mind"

Yeah, you are supposed to get written approval.  But out of curiosity, does anybody have any statistics on how many of those dollars the IRS has collected when a tax preparer provides a copy of a return based on a client's verbal request?  Along the same lines, how did they catch all of those outlaws that have committed that crime against humanity?  Is there a tip line to report those hardened criminals? 😁