The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office building in Washington, Feb. 26, 2025. About 22,000 employees at the Internal Revenue Service have signed up for the Trump administration’s latest resignation offer, according to four people familiar with the matter, an exodus that could weaken the agency’s ability to collect taxes. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
- Roughly 22,000 IRS employees accepted a Trump-era resignation offer, potentially slashing a third of the agency’s workforce this year.
- Staffing cuts are forcing the IRS to abandon audits, which could weaken tax collection and embolden tax avoidance nationwide.
- Acting commissioner resigns amid concerns over IRS sharing taxpayer data with ICE, breaking long-held confidentiality norms.
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WASHINGTON — About 22,000 employees at the IRS have signed up for the Trump administration’s latest resignation offer, according to four people familiar with the matter, an exodus that could weaken the agency’s ability to collect taxes.
The IRS had about 100,000 employees before President Donald Trump took office. Roughly 5,000 employees have resigned since January, and an additional 7,000 probationary employees were laid off, though those firings have been contested in court. If those layoffs take effect, the agency would be on track to lose about a third of its workforce this year.
Under the terms of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, employees who take the deal will be put on paid administrative leave through September and then leave their federal jobs. Some employees who took the offer could still opt out of resigning.
IRS Could Lose a Third of Its Staff
Losing a third of IRS staff — with remaining employees bracing for further layoffs and funding cuts — is expected to decrease the amount of revenue the federal government is able to collect. The cuts have already caused the IRS to abandon some audits, current and former employees said, and taxpayers may feel more emboldened to try and avoid paying taxes if the IRS is diminished.
The Biden administration had expanded the IRS by about 20,000 employees in hopes of increasing the amount of tax revenue it collected. A Treasury spokesperson said the department was aiming to reverse the hirings from the last administration.
“The secretary is committed to ensuring that efficiency is realized while providing the collections, privacy and customer service the American people deserve,” the spokesperson for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Among the resigning IRS officials is the acting commissioner, Melanie Krause. She and other top IRS officials decided to leave the agency in part because of an agreement to share taxpayer information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Trump administration’s decision to use IRS data to help deport immigrants in the country without legal permission has caused widespread concern at the tax collector, which has long kept taxpayer information confidential.
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Andrew Duehren and Eileen Sullivan/Haiyun Jiang
c. 2025 The New York Times Company
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