IRS slashing thousands of jobs in heat of US tax season

The Trump administration is planning to lay off more than 6,000 employees by the end of the week at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the agency responsible for managing the country’s taxation system, US media report.

The cuts to the agency – part of the Treasury Department – come in the middle of US tax season, when millions of Americans and businesses turn to the agency to submit their taxation documents.

Half of the cuts will hit an office known as the Small Business/Self-Employed (SBSE) Division, CBS News, the BBC’s media partner, reports.

An email obtained by CBS, signed by SBSE heads, said the employees subjected to cuts “were not deemed as critical to filing season.”

The BBC has contacted the IRS and Treasury Department for comment.

In the SBSE email, sent by Commissioner Lia Colbert and Deputy Commissioner Maha Williams, they said that “while details are still developing, we understand that over 3,500 SB/SE probationary hires will be terminated by the end of this week.”

It added that affected staff would be notified on Thursday. Probationary employees who had been at the agency less than a year would not be entitled to severance, the email said.

Probationary employees will bear the brunt of the planned IRS cuts, the New York Times reported.

About 83,000 people worked for the IRS as of the 2023 fiscal year.

Most Americans have a deadline of April 15 to file their taxes, though the government allows extensions under some circumstances.

The previous Biden administration won $80bn (£63.2bn) in funding for new resources and staff at the IRS, in order to bolster the agency’s auditing, investigative, and enforcement powers, and help the US bring in more revenue.

Republicans, who generally advocate for lower taxes, opposed the effort and have long targeted the IRS for cuts. Congressional Republicans whittled down the size of Biden’s investment in the IRS during his term.

The Trump administration, and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), are implementing the layoffs as part of a cost-cutting drive aimed at drastically reducing the size of the federal workforce.

Thousands of employees have either taken a buyout offer or been fired or placed on administrative leave. Trump officials have also floated the idea of dismantling some government agencies in their entirety.

Many of the Trump administration’s efforts are being fought in court or held up by judges, leaving workers in limbo and the effect on Americans who rely on their services unclear.

In an interview on Fox News, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that Trump’s “goal is to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay”.

He proposed an “External Revenue Service” to generate funds from tariffs instead.

Polling indicates some discomfort among Americans for Trump’s changes to the federal workforce.

A Washington Post/Ipsos poll suggests that 54% of Americans disapproved of the way Trump is managing the federal government, compared to 44% who approved.

The poll’s responses are split heavily among partisan lines. But 60% of Americans who consider themselves politically independent believed Trump had gone beyond his authority.

During his campaign, Trump promised to lower the economic burdens on everyday Americans while also slashing government waste and taking on the deficit.

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