IRS Worker Firings Could Delay Tax Processing and Enforcement

The Internal Revenue Service recently dismissed probationary workers—those with less than a year’s experience—declaring them nonessential during the busy tax season. This decision came amid reports that the IRS has struggled in recent years to manage the heavy workload of processing millions of returns, a challenge that became more acute after the pandemic.

According to multiple experts and sources familiar with the matter, the abrupt staff cuts are expected to cause delays in tax refunds, longer wait times for customer support, and increased backlogs in paperwork processing. Some IRS employees and tax professionals expressed concerns that reducing the number of workers during peak season amounts to a significant risk, potentially sending tax processing efforts back decades.

A number of critics pointed out that many Americans still rely on paper tax returns, which require manual processing that could be severely impacted by these terminations. They likened the debacle to a business eliminating its entire accounts receivable department, warning that the planned reduction in personnel may hinder the agency’s ability to collect due revenue.

Additional voices from within the fiscal policy community, including former Treasury officials and academic experts, highlighted that the terminations might compromise key functions such as tax-evasion and fraud detection. They emphasized that under-resourcing the IRS could undermine its capacity to enforce tax compliance, especially when more affluent individuals can afford high-priced legal support.

This move is part of broader federal efforts to reduce government spending, with similar rounds of firings seen in other government agencies recently. IRS representatives have not responded to requests for comment, but there is widespread concern that the impact of these cutbacks will be felt by taxpayers for a long time to come.