The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the latest federal agency likely to face major job cuts.
According to a report from The Washington Post, the Trump administration is planning around 9,000 job cuts at the agency specifically targeting employees who are still on their probation period.
The report states:
The Trump administration is expected to begin laying off thousands of employees at the Internal Revenue Service, six people briefed on the matter said, as billionaire Elon Musk’s team begins to target tax collections.
Treasury officials have discussed laying off roughly 9,000 employees still in their probationary period as part of broader dismissals across the government of these recently hired workers, according to the six people who requested anonymity to speak about internal conversations.
That number could not be immediately confirmed, and spokespeople both for the IRS and Treasury declined to comment. The cuts could start as soon as Friday.
The layoffs are likely targeting tax collection, several of the people briefed on the matter said. Indeed, associates of Musk’s team begin meeting high-ranking IRS officials about what could prove dramatic changes to the tax agency.
Gavin Kliger, a software engineer now working at the IRS, met with Ken Corbin, the IRS’s chief of taxpayer services, and Heather Maloy, the agency’s top enforcement official, during his first day at the agency’s headquarters Thursday, according to several of the people familiar with the meetings.
Members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered the IRS building on Thursday, triggering panic among leftists who fear a downsizing of the agency notorious for harassing millions of hardworking Americans.
Leftists Flip Out As DOGE Enters IRS Headquarters to Begin Investigating Corrupt Agency
Among those hitting the panic button was Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who suggested without evidence that it could lead to a delay in tax refunds.
“My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS,” he wrote on X. “That means Musk’s henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America.
“And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason,” he added.
NEW: My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS. That means Musk’s henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America. And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason.
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) February 13, 2025
The changes are quite a contrast from the approach of the Biden administration.
Under the terms of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the agency received an additional $80 billion in funding to hire another 87,000 employees.
Yet even this was not enough.
Last month, they requested another $20 billion allocation from Congress to fund the hiring of another 14,000 employees in order to harass taxpayers and investigate “discriminatory practices.”
