Exploring the Impact and Implications of the Planned IRS Workforce Reduction
ARGUS News. Now.WASHINGTON, DC — Internal Revenue (IRS) has been tasked with drafting plans to drastically reduce its workforce by nearly or more through a mix of layoffs, attrition and incentivized buyouts, according to two sources familiar with the circumstances.
The anonymous sources issued confirmation on Tuesday, choosing to disclose the information– despite having no official authorization to disclose the plans.
The layoffs are purported to be the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce… notably, through billionaire Elon Musk’s newly minted Department of Government Efficiency.
They plan to make deep cuts by actually shuttering agencies, laying off virtually all probationary employees — people who have not yet gained federal civil service protections. Buyouts are being offered to almost all federal employees through something called a “deferred resignation program”.
The goal is to quickly reduce the government workforce. Such a reduction, by tens of thousands of individuals, would surely render the IRS “dysfunctional” according to John Koskinen, a former IRS commissioner.
The federal income tax collection agency employs approximately 90,000 workers across the United States, according to recent IRS data.
Interestingly (but not surprisingly), people of color comprise about 56% of the IRS workforce, with women representing upwards of 65%.
In February, roughly 7,000 probationary IRS staffers with one year or less experience, were laid off from the organization.
The Department of Government Efficiency also offered IRS employees (and almost all federal employees across the government) a “deferred resignation program” — in other words, buyouts — even though IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were told earlier this March that they would not be allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until mid-May, after the taxpayer filing deadline.
Alongside the planned layoffs, the Trump administration says it will lend IRS workers to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to aid with immigration enforcement.
In a letter sent in February, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent if IRS workers could be borrowed to assist with “ongoing immigration crackdown efforts”.
Mr. Koskinen, along with six other former IRS Commissioners, wrote in the New York Times earlier this month: “Aggressive reductions in the I.R.S.’s resources will only render our government less effective and less efficient in collecting the taxes Congress has imposed.”
According to an inter-agency White House memo distributed in late February, government entities are tasked to develop a report by March 13, 2025 on its reduction in force plans.
It is, however. unclear that the White House will approve the IRS’ reorganization plans, or the length of time it could take to implement them.
Fatima Hussein wrote the original version of this article.
#IRS #TaxReform #GovernmentRestructuring
