Are IRS Layoff in Tax Season A Cost-Cutting Strategy?

As part of a Trump administration effort to reduce government employment, the IRS will fire thousands of probationary employees during tax season. As tax season intensifies, the IRS is apparently getting ready to fire thousands more probationary employees. IRS Layoff will start soon. These reductions might start the week of February 16, 2025. Due to federal power, Elon Musk's DOGE department is facing legal challenges. The Trump administration's larger attempt to cut the size of the federal workforce includes layoffs. President Trump directed agencies to fire almost all probationary staff who had not yet received civil service protection. In an attempt to reduce the size of the federal workforce, the Trump administration ordered agencies to fire almost all probationary employees who had not yet received civil service protection.

IRS Layoff: Employees involved in the 2025 tax season couldn't take the buyout until after the tax filing deadline

Elon Musk served as a key adviser on cutting federal spending. The Trump administration had earlier introduced a "deferred resignation program". The program offered buyouts to most federal employees. That’s a strategy which is not too common. Well, those who accepted the buyout could stop working but still receive their salaries until September 30.  However, IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season couldn't take the buyout until after the tax filing deadline. There is another strategy behind this. The administration had previously announced this program to reduce the number of government employees quickly. The deadline for employees to apply for the buyout was February 6.

However, a recent letter to IRS employees working in the 2025 tax season informed them that they will not be permitted to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until after the taxpayer filing deadline. The number of employees affected by the layoff announcement plan is unknown. When Associated Press reached out to U.S. Treasury and IRS officials for comment, they did not reply.

The IRS expects that more than 140 million tax returns will be filed by the deadline on April 15: Layoff

• The 2025 tax season officially began on January 27. The IRS expects that more than 140 million tax returns will be filed by the deadline on April 15. 

• With a $80 billion investment in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration made significant investments in the IRS, including plans to update the tax collection agency with new technology and hire tens of thousands of new staff to assist with enforcement and customer service.

• The billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have called for the United States to "delete entire agencies" from the federal government as part of his plan to drastically reduce expenditure and reorganize its objectives, and Republicans have been successful in reclaiming that money.

• Plans from DOGE are being opposed by elected figures. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, attorneys general from 14 states contested the right to access confidential government information and exert "virtually unchecked power."

According to the lawsuit, which was submitted to a federal court in Washington, only an official who has been nominated and confirmed by the Senate may conduct the activities that Musk took while leading DOGE. It makes reference to clauses in the constitution that outline the president's and Congress's authority.