The IRS is drafting plans to try to cut its workforce of roughly 90,000 people in half through a mix of layoffs, attrition and incentivized buyouts, according to two people familiar with the situation and not authorized to speak on the record.

Summary

The IRS is considering drastic workforce reduction plans that could cut up to half of its 90,000 employees through layoffs, attrition, and buyouts.

The Trump administration, working through Elon Musk’s DOGE, has already laid off 7,000 probationary (newly hired) employees and plans further reductions.

Former IRS commissioners warn that such cuts would make the agency dysfunctional: “Reducing the IRS’s resources will make our government less effective and efficient in collecting taxes Congress has imposed.”

The agency may also lend workers to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration deportation.