Roughly 20,000 Internal Revenue Service employees have signaled interest in accepting the Trump administration's latest deferred resignation offer, potentially slashing the agency's workforce by around 20%, according to government sources. The figure represents a significant escalation in the administration's broader drive to streamline federal operations, which has included layoffs, resignations, and job offer cancellations across several departments.
If all 20,000 staffers follow through, the IRS-which employed more than 102,000 workers in 2024-will experience one of the largest workforce reductions in its history. This buyout offer follows an earlier round in March, during which approximately 4,700 IRS employees, or about 5% of the workforce at that time, accepted resignation incentives.
Treasury Department officials confirmed the scale of the workforce reduction but framed the cuts as necessary to reverse the staffing expansions made during the Biden administration. "The roll back of wasteful Biden-era hiring surges, and consolidation of critical support functions are vital to improve both efficiency and quality of service," a Treasury spokesperson said. They further emphasized the commitment to maintain necessary taxpayer services despite staffing cuts.
The timing of the announcement coincided with the federal tax filing deadline, drawing criticism from tax experts and former IRS officials who warned of potential harm to government revenue collection and taxpayer services. Deep reductions in staff, they said, could hamper the agency's ability to conduct timely audits, provide customer service, and maintain accurate taxpayer records.
Concerns were echoed within the IRS workforce itself, with several employees describing the work environment as increasingly toxic and morale as significantly deteriorated. An IRS employee in Atlanta noted, "The workplace is toxic these days. Morale is low. People try to come in and think positively, but they don't make it through a full workday without negativity, even in conversation with other employees, or getting the next email in their inbox with bad news."
According to Federal News Network, internal documents revealed the IRS intends to reduce its workforce by up to 40% through buyouts, layoffs, and hiring freezes. Since January, about 12,000 IRS employees, including probationary staff, have either resigned or been laid off.
CNN, citing multiple sources, reported that roughly 22,000 employees initially expressed interest, marking approximately 25% of the IRS's total workforce. Although these numbers could fluctuate as details are finalized, the projected scale of the resignations has raised alarm among tax professionals.
The broader federal downsizing aligns with initiatives led by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which has advocated aggressive personnel reductions and streamlining of federal agencies. The IRS is expected to announce the first wave of involuntary layoffs, known as reduction-in-force actions, imminently, which could be mitigated by the higher-than-expected voluntary resignations.
