BREAKING: IRS could fire up to half its 90,000 staff: report

The Internal Revenue Service is writing up plans to cut up to half of its 90,000 person staff, according to a report from the Associated Press. This comes as the Trump administration has been working to cut back on the government and make it more efficient.

According the AP, the layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s plans to shrink the government with the Department of Government Efficiency. The IRS has around 90,000 employees across the agency, and around 7,000 probationary IRS employees were already out of the job in February.

IRS employees, like most other federal workers, were offered “deferred resignation program” buyout deals, where they could resign and receive full pay for several months while they look elsewhere for work.

The outlet reported that former IRS commissioner John Koskinen claimed the IRS would be made “dysfunctional” by such cuts. He wrote earlier this month in the New York Times, “Aggressive reductions in the I.R.S.’s resources will only render our government less effective and less efficient in collecting the taxes Congress has imposed.”

The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is moving to implement “reduction in force” plans across different government entities. When the outlet reached out to the IRS, the agency declined to comment on the situation with the reported layoffs. 

Gavin Kliner as well as Sam Crocos, two DOGE staffers, have taken on the role of working with the Trump administration to gain access to the IRS databases as well as other records, per the Times. DOGE has taken a particular interest in reviewing the activities of the IRS in recent weeks.