IRS employees are preparing for layoffs in the middle of tax season as the newfound Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) makes cuts to the federal government.
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āOur probationary employees will be removed as of tomorrow,ā Shannon Ellis, president of chapter 66 of the National Treasury Employees Union in the Kansas City area, said in a social media video posted Tuesday.Ā
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Probationary employees are new hires at the IRS who need to complete a trial period of one or two years before acquiring full employee status. Ellis said she didnāt know if the layoffs would affect non-probationary employees, as well.
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IRS service levels have been bad in recent years, so itās not clear why authorities are making further staffing cuts. Last year, 31 percent of calls to the agency were answered by a human being, up from 29 percent in 2023, 13 percent in 2022, and 11 percent in 2021, accordingĀ toĀ figures from National Taxpayer Advocate’s most recent report to Congress.
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The IRS fails to collect around $700 billion in taxes every year, and the employee cut could have an effect on this number, as well.
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āMy estimates ā¦ suggest we could give up on [about] $3 trillion in uncollected taxes by gutting tax compliance efforts,ā former Treasury Department tax policy lawyer Natasha Sarin wrote in a social media post Wednesday.
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The firings of new hires could also affect audit rates, which have similarly declined in recent years.
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āA lack of important staffing and funding may well impact the volume of examinations the IRS can conduct,ā former IRS commissioner Charles Rettig wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.
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ā Tobias Burns
