Key Takeaways
- President Trump promised to reduce the federal government’s spending, which the U.S. DOGE service, steered by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has started to do by reducing the number of federal workers. About 7% of the IRS workforce was laid off, with tax season ongoing.
- The IRS could shrink further because most employees are on the verge of retirement, the federal government is offering buyout options, and it has a return-to-office mandate.
- Tax experts say this could significantly increase the time it takes to process tax returns and negatively affect their accuracy.
President Donald Trump’s moves to shrink the federal workforce could have big repercussions for an Internal Revenue Service tax experts have long argued has been underemployed.
With one of Trump’s campaign promises being to reduce the federal government’s spending, the president is using the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, steered by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, to significantly reduce the number of federal workers.
At the IRS, which enforces tax laws and collects taxes, about 7,000 workers were recently laid off, marking nearly 7% of the agency’s workforce, according to the Washington Post.
Some experts said the changes could lead to improved efficiency and modernized computer systems at the IRS. Still, with a reduced workforce and a broader hiring freeze implemented by the administration in January, the IRS may be slower to give taxpayers their refunds, and the accuracy of how tax returns are processed could decrease, according to Crystal Stranger, an enrolled agent and CEO of Optic Tax.
“There are really good things that are going to come out of this too. It’s not all bad, and change is always painful,” Stranger said. “I just think the timing is a little challenging, with it being tax season.”
Many Factors Have Been Shrinking The IRS Workforce
The Biden administration sought to bolster the IRS with billions of dollars in funding, including the hiring of thousands of new staffers.
“The IRS wasn’t even fully staffed to begin with,” said Tom O’Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals. “They were still hiring based on the money they got appropriated a couple of years ago; they haven’t been able to fill all their spots.”
Even before the latest hiring freeze, the IRS had trouble replacing workers who left or retired; attrition for the past two years has ranged from 16% to 36%. This indicates larger issues as 63% of IRS workers are eligible to retire within six years, according to Taxpayer Advocate’s 2024 annual report to Congress.
The federal hiring freeze could also prevent seasonal employees from coming in for support during tax season, Stranger said. According to the Government Accountability Office, these workers represented 11% to 20% of the agency’s workforce from 2013 to 2022.
Stranger said these workers, many who are military veterans and personnel, could also be dissuaded from a seasonal worker role due to a memo from Trump’s inauguration day stating that all agencies must terminate remote work.
“I would imagine a lot of them are really not going to be capable of going in and working in an office because they probably have other family obligations,” Stranger said. “Some of these are part-time workers who do customer support. Some are on the phone lines. So it’s going to be challenging for a great number of people.”
In another attempt to reduce federal workers, the government offered all workers a buyout. About 75,000 workers, or about 3% of the civilian workforce, have accepted it.
IRS workers were not allowed to sign the buyout offer until after the April 15 tax deadline. The Office of Personnel Management has not said how many workers plan to do so after the tax season ends. Experts said the buyout option could affect future tax seasons and lengthen this year’s process of amending a return or IRS audits.