IRS has lost 25% of its IT workforce since Trump took office, watchdog finds

The IRS has lost a quarter of its workforce since the beginning of the Trump administration, including thousands from the tax agency’s IT business unit, according to newly released watchdog data.

A snapshot report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that more than 25,000 IRS employees either took the deferred resignation offer, retired or were separated from the agency in another way, while nearly 300 staffers were terminated via reduction-in-force actions. Combined, those departures represent 25% of the agency’s workforce, which has downsized from roughly 103,000 staffers to 77,428 as of May.

According to TIGTA, the IRS’s IT business unit has lost 25% of its staffers over the same period, leaving the division with just over 2,100 employees. The IT management job series across agency units is down 23%, per the report. 

TIGTA also confirmed previous FedScoop reporting on the IRS’s move in late March to place nearly 50 IT executives on administrative leave. Among those employees, 26 eventually departed via Treasury Department incentive offerings, while another 22 are still on admin leave, per the watchdog.  

Beyond IT, other hard-hit IRS business units include small business/self-employed (35%), human capital (28%), tax exempt & government entities (25%), taxpayer services (20%) and large business & international (19%). 

TIGTA, which did not make any recommendations as part of its assessment, did point to this year’s annual report to Congress from the National Taxpayer Advocate, which warned that this level of staff reductions will likely have a major impact on the next filing season. 

“Looking forward, taxpayers may face more challenges,” Erin Collins wrote in her letter to Congress, citing agency workforce cuts that have “the potential to reduce taxpayer services.”