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WASHINGTON — The end of a successful tax filing season is usually a celebratory moment for frontline IRS employees, but this year the milestone is tainted by mass layoffs and budget cuts that threaten the success of the next one, according to the National Treasury Employees Union.

“NTEU is incredibly proud of the IRS employees who persevered despite attacks on their jobs and their agency and helped deliver a smooth filing season for millions of taxpayers and business owners,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald. “But the success feels precarious as the administration plans a forthcoming firing spree that will cripple the agency’s ability to serve the American people, before, during and after the filing season.”

The Trump administration has already removed about 7,000 probationary IRS workers, many hired in the last year with resources provided by Congress to rebuild the agency, restore customer service levels, modernize its technology and improve enforcement of the tax code. The Treasury Department has announced plans for a broader reduction-in-force that could impact thousands more IRS employees across the country.

“It is not speculation to say that a gutted IRS helps fewer taxpayers file their returns, slows their refunds, and allows tax cheats to thrive, because we saw all three of those things the last time Congress eviscerated the IRS budget and shrunk the workforce,” Greenwald said. “This administration is intentionally rolling back the recent progress and returning the IRS to the days of long wait times on the phone, case backlogs and uncollected taxes. Administering the tax code is a labor-intensive process, and indiscriminately firing thousands of IRS employees will weaken the system that is responsible for 96 percent of the government’s revenue.”

The smaller the IRS workforce, the less tax revenue is collected, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Budget Lab at Yale University. Treasury has not announced specific figures for the reduction-in-force, but if the agency were to lose 18,200 employees, the government would save $1.4 billion in 2026 but collect $8.3 billion less in taxes, for a net revenue loss of $6.8 billion. Over 10 years, if the job cuts are maintained, the net lost revenue is $159 billion.

“For those who are worried about the national debt, hobbling the agency that helps government pay its bills is exactly the wrong strategy,” Greenwald said.

If the agency removed half of its enforcement staff, as has been reported, there would be fewer resources to audit high-wealth taxpayers and their complex returns, especially those who have been evading their tax liability. In 2024, using additional funding and resources provided to the IRS by the Inflation Reduction Act, the agency collected $172 million from wealthy taxpayers who had not filed tax returns since 2017. Another study determined that for every $1 the IRS spends auditing taxpayers in the 90th income percentile, it yields more than $12 in revenue.

“The record is clear that the IRS workforce is an excellent return on investment,” Greenwald said. “Our voluntary system of tax compliance depends on having a fully-staffed IRS ensuring the tax code is being enforced fairly for everyone.”

Cuts to the agency’s customer service corps would be equally devastating. Fewer IRS professionals answering phones or staffing in-person Taxpayer Assistance Centers around the country means less help for taxpayers who are trying to do the right thing and meet their tax obligations.  

NTEU represents employees in 37 federal agencies and offices.        

Contact NTEU Director of Communications Mike Givens at Mike.Givens@nteu.org.