Overview

• The Senate approved Long’s nomination on June 12 in a 53-44 party-line vote, ending a stretch with four acting commissioners
• Democrats pointed to his work with a firm tied to a fraud-shut pandemic-era Employee Retention Tax Credit scheme and have called for investigations
• Long has no background in tax administration and previously sponsored legislation to abolish the IRS during his congressional tenure
• The IRS has shed roughly 20,000 employees through layoffs and retirements this year, raising doubts about its capacity for the 2026 filing season
• Long’s team has signaled that the fate of the IRS’s free Direct File system will be one of its first review items