Overview

• More than 22,000 IRS employees have accepted deferred resignation buyout offers, reducing the agency's workforce by approximately 25% as of mid-April 2025.
• The IRS's workforce is projected to shrink from around 100,000 employees to between 60,000 and 70,000, marking a potential 40% reduction in staff.
• Key leadership figures, including CIO Rajiv Uppal and acting Commissioner Melanie Krause, have announced their resignations, with Uppal set to depart on April 28, 2025.
• Experts warn that diminished staffing could lead to slower tax processing, reduced enforcement of tax compliance, and long-term revenue losses estimated at up to $159 billion over the next decade.
• The workforce reductions are part of broader cost-cutting efforts led by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which aim to streamline federal operations but have sparked concerns over service reliability and data privacy.