The Internal Revenue Service plans to eliminate 20,000 jobs – nearly a quarter of its workforce – in layoffs starting Friday, as part of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts, according to records obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the plans.
The agency said it would eliminate its Office of Civil Rights and Compliance, firing roughly 130 employees from a division responsible for protecting taxpayers from discrimination in the tax code, audits and investigations. The remaining employees there will be transferred to other departments.
The reduction in force was expected and comes as the agency has already lost several executives and thousands of employees, including agents who audit tax returns, during tax season. It’s also part of a broader plan from President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team, the U.S. DOGE Service, to shrink the federal government.
“This action is being taken to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the IRS,” an email sent to employees said.
A spokesperson for the Treasury Department said the cuts “will be part of – and driven by – process improvements and technological innovations that will allow the IRS to collect revenue and serve taxpayers more effectively.” The department has previously said its policy is to not attach names to spokespeople’s statements.
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The downsizing has raised concerns among tax officials that the government could see a sharp drop in tax revenue this year as tax cheats see opportunities to take advantage of the diminished IRS.
Treasury Department and IRS officials last month projected that tax receipts would show a more than 10 percent decrease by the April 15 filing deadline, compared with the same period in 2024, The Post reported. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue.
More than 4,000 employees accepted deferred resignation offers earlier this year. An additional 7,000 probationary employees – those generally with the agency for less than a year – were laid off in February, though they are being reinstated under court orders. At least some of those employees have been told they should expect to return to work on April 14, according to emails viewed by The Post.
It’s unclear whether the expected reduction in force includes the employees who were targeted earlier this year. The IRS employed about 100,000 people in January.
About 50 people working on cybersecurity and IT were fired last week, according to two people familiar with the layoffs. An office overseeing the agency’s modernization efforts has been closed, and the acting commissioner, human resources chief, acting general counsel and several other top deputies have resigned or been demoted.
The layoffs and re-hirings have been disruptive and have had a “devastating effect on morale,” said Duncan Giles, president of the Indiana chapter of the IRS employees union. Workers are constantly “worrying about ‘Okay, am I going to have a job today, tomorrow, next week?’” he said.