Will the IRS Layoffs Affect Tax Season?

On Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began terminating employees in a round of about 6,700 layoffs.

The Details: The layoffs primarily affect employees who have been at the IRS for under two years. Employees in a variety of roles have been terminated, including revenue agents, customer service workers, and IT workers. 

For Context: The IRS grew from around 80,000 employees in 2021 to around 100,000 by 2025, largely due to efforts from the Biden administration to expand enforcement on wealthy taxpayers. Although President Donald Trump offered a buyout program to federal employees in exchange for their resignations, some IRS employees deemed critical to tax season were told they are unable to accept the offer until after April 15. The White House did not comment on how these layoffs would impact tax season.

How the Media Covered It: Reuters (Center bias) wrote that the layoffs “target” workers “hired as part of an expansion under Democratic former President Joe Biden.” It also highlighted DOGE’s involvement in the layoffs, stating that “tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump's biggest campaign donor” is executing Trump’s “sweeping downsizing effort.” Axios (Lean Left) quoted Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS employees, calling the layoffs a “recipe for economic disaster." The Blaze (Right) included comments Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made to Jesse Watters (Right) from Fox News (Lean Right). Lutnick said Trump’s goal is to "abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay."