West Virginia (AP)— The IRS will lay off roughly 7,000 workers in Washington and around the country beginning Thursday.
The layoffs affect probationary employees with roughly one year or less of service at the agency and primarily include workers in compliance departments, according to the source who was not authorized to disclose the plans and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Compliance work includes ensuring that taxpayers abide by the tax code, file their returns, and pay their taxes, among other duties.
The layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who haven’t earned civil service protection yet.
They come despite IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season being told earlier this month that they would not be allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until mid-May, after the taxpayer filing deadline.
It’s unclear how the layoffs may affect tax collection services this year.
During the Biden Administration, the IRS was tasked with targeting high–wealth tax evaders for an additional income stream to the U.S., which is $36 trillion in debt.
By the end of 2024, the IRS collected over $1.3 billion in back taxes from wealthy tax dodgers.
According to the latest data, the IRS has roughly 90,000 employees across the United States.
In addition to the planned layoffs, the Trump administration intends to lend IRS workers to the Department of Homeland Security to assist with immigration enforcement.
In a letter sent earlier this month, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to borrow IRS workers to help with ongoing immigration crackdown efforts.
