Tuesday is Tax Day, but there will be fewer Internal Revenue Service workers around to process your return this year—and those that remain might have other things on their minds. The New York Times, citing "four people familiar with the matter," reports that around 22,000 IRS have accepted the administration's resignation offer. Some 7,000 probationary workers have already been laid off and another 5,000 have resigned since the start of the year, putting the agency on track to lose around a third of its 100,000 workforce by the end of 2025, even before the next round of job cuts, the Times reports. Sources tell CNN that more IRS layoffs will be announced this week, just as the agency is at its busiest.
The deadline to accept the deferred resignation offer and be put on paid leave through September was Monday night. "The timing is terrible," a senior IRS official tells CNN. "It's already a hot mess inside the IRS. Of all the times to be messing with things, really?" Losing so many tax workers is expected to cost the government a lot more in revenue than it will be saving on salaries. The Times reports that current and former employees say the IRS has already had to abandon some audits—and some people might gamble that the staff cuts will make it easier to get away with cheating on their taxes.
Taxpayers calling the IRS for assistance this year are likely to find it harder to get somebody on the phone, and next tax season will likely be much worse, the AP reports. A spokesperson for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the department is reversing the actions of the Biden administration, which tried to boost tax revenue by adding 20,000 IRS employees, the Times reports. "The Secretary is committed to ensuring that efficiency is realized while providing the collections, privacy, and customer service the American people deserve," the spokesperson says. (More IRS stories.)
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