According to a person familiar with the matter, the Internal Revenue Service will lay off approximately 6,700 employees on Thursday, putting the tax-collection agency’s resources under strain during the critical tax-filing season.
The workers being laid off are probationary employees, who have typically been with the agency for less than one to two years and have fewer benefits than long-term employees. The IRS has approximately 100,000 employees.
The IRS cuts come amid a broader reduction in personnel across the federal government at the direction of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who is leading an unprecedented effort to shrink the bureaucracy.
The Office of Personnel Management, which oversees federal hiring, ordered the IRS to dismiss all probationary employees last week, as it has with other agencies.
However, the IRS has taken a more cautious approach than most other agencies, citing concerns about squeezing resources with the April 15 tax filing deadline only two months away. For weeks after the deadline, the IRS continues to process taxpayer returns and refunds.
According to the person familiar with the matter, approximately 6,600 probationary IRS employees will be retained to work through the tax filing season, with customer service and taxpayer advocacy staff exempt from the cuts for the time being.
However, some senior IRS executives are concerned about the agency’s ability to process returns in a timely and efficient manner, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The layoffs will affect a variety of roles across the country, including revenue agents, auditors, and IT specialists, with workers in New York, California, Georgia, and Tennessee among the hardest hit, according to a source familiar with the situation.
