The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is set to lay off approximately 6,000 employees, about 6% of its workforce, in a move announced Thursday by Christy Armstrong, the agency’s director of talent acquisition.
The announcement was made during a phone call, during which Armstrong urged staff to support each other during this challenging time, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The layoffs are part of a broader government downsizing effort of President Donald Trump’s administration, which has already affected other sectors of government.
This includes a focus on workers new to their positions who have fewer protections than longer-tenured employees.
The job cuts are expected to total around 6,700, with the majority targeting workers hired during the Biden administration as part of an expansion aimed at enhancing IRS enforcement efforts on wealthy taxpayers.
The IRS now employs approximately 100,000 people, up from 80,000 under the Biden administration.
The agency had sought to increase its staffing to improve tax enforcement and close gaps in revenue collection, which budget analysts had estimated could help reduce budget deficits.
However, some Republican lawmakers, aligned with Trump, argue that the expansion would result in increased harassment of average taxpayers.
The layoffs come at a critical time, as the IRS is entering the peak of tax-filing season, with the April 15 deadline just two months away. The agency expects to process over 140 million individual tax returns by that date.
