America is right in the thick of its annual tax season, but that hasn’t stopped President Donald Trump from making changes to the IRS.
Trump did not wait until after the April 15 tax deadline to roll out a series of major reforms to the federal agency responsible for collecting taxes and administering the nation’s federal tax laws.
Here are significant ways Trump has overhauled the IRS so far.
For more about changes the new administration has made to federal agencies, check out “7 Ways Trump Is Remaking the Social Security Administration — From Savings to Layoffs.”
Firing the commissioner
The highest-ranking employee at the IRS is its commissioner. IRS commissioners are appointed to five-year terms and typically serve out their terms. In other words, they usually end up serving beyond the four-year term of the president who nominated them.
Trump broke with this tradition. He announced in early December that he planned to nominate Billy Long to replace then-IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2023 to serve until November 2027. So, Werfel retired days before Trump’s inauguration.
Once Trump took office, Doug O’Donnell became acting IRS commissioner, as Long’s appointment must first be confirmed by the Senate.
O’Donnell ended up retiring at the end of February, however. So, in March, IRS Chief Operating Officer Melanie Krause took over as acting IRS commissioner.
O’Donnell’s departure came shortly after mass layoffs began at the IRS (more on those in a minute) and the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, attempted to access taxpayer data, Politico reported.
Ordering a hiring freeze
One of Trump’s first moves upon returning to the White House was to issue an executive order that included “a freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees.”
The freeze is an about-face from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a federal law that gave the IRS an additional “$45,637,400,000” and earmarked it specifically for “necessary expenses for tax enforcement activities” conducted through September 2031.
As Trump noted on a stop in Las Vegas on Jan. 25:
“On day one, I immediately halted the hiring of any new IRS agents. You know they hired or tried to hire 88,000 new workers to go after you, and we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them, or maybe we’ll move them to the border. “
Laying off thousands of employees
The IRS began firing employees on Feb. 20 as part of the Trump administration’s plans to streamline government and cut costs. The Washington Post reported that about 7,000 IRS employees — roughly 7% of the agency — were expected to lose their jobs. They include about 5,000 workers in the IRS’ enforcement and collections section.
Critics say the cuts will make it harder for the IRS to collect taxes owed to the government. They also worry that taxpayers will find it more difficult to secure help from the IRS.
At a Feb. 20 press event, Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, defended the moves in response to a reporter’s question:
“Well, I think our objective is to make sure that the employees that we pay are being productive and effective. And there are many, many — more than 100,000 people working to collect taxes, and not all of them are fully occupied. … [S]o, I think that it’s absolutely something that is on the table for good reasons.”
Closing taxpayer assistance centers
The Trump administration will close at least 113 IRS offices that have taxpayer assistance centers, according to a letter signed by the U.S. General Services Administration’s commissioner for public buildings, Michael Peters, which was obtained by The Washington Post.
Their leases will be terminated or not renewed when they expire, according to the Feb. 25 letter. The Post says it is unclear whether these centers are closing for good or will be relocated, though Peters noted that there was an “excess of federal space identified prior to the covid-19 pandemic.”
Taxpayer service centers offer certain services to taxpayers in person. They include help with account inquiries and basic tax law, identity authentication for potential victims of tax-related identity theft and in some cases acceptance of payments.
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