WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — The Internal Revenue Service will lay off 6,700 workers in Washington, D.C., and around the U.S. beginning Thursday, a government official told NewsNation.
As of May 2024, the agency had more than 94,000 employees. About 1 out of every 7 of them have been on the job for a year or less. Another 1 of 7 have been employed there for one to two years.
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The layoffs are part of the administration’s intensified efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who have not yet gained civil service protection. 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. As the nation’s revenue collector, the IRS was tasked during the Biden administration with targeting high-wealth tax evaders for an additional stream of income 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.
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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.
Representatives from the IRS and U.S. Treasury did not respond to requests for comment from NewsNation.
