IRS To Fire Probationary Workers At The Height Of Tax Season

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season, according to two sources familiar with the agency's plans, Fatima Hussein reported for the Associated Press (AP).

IRS employees working on the 2025 tax season have been informed that they cannot accept buyout offers from the Trump administration until after the April 15 tax filing deadline.

This move aligns with the Trump administration’s broader efforts to shrink the federal workforce, as agencies have been directed to terminate nearly all probationary employees who have not yet secured civil service protections.

It remains unclear how many IRS workers will be affected.

However, IRS employees working on the 2025 tax season have been informed that they cannot accept buyout offers from the Trump administration until after the April 15 tax filing deadline, according to a recently issued letter.

The 2025 tax season officially began on Jan. 27, and the IRS anticipates processing over 140 million tax returns by the deadline.

During the Biden administration, the IRS received an $80 billion funding boost through the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, aimed at hiring tens of thousands of employees to improve customer service, enforcement, and technology.

Labor unions representing federal employees are still working to assess the full scale and impact of the layoffs.

As of 2024, more than 200,000 federal employees had been working for less than a year, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The agency conducted an afternoon call to discuss the situation, according to Tami Luhby, Rene Marsh, Matt Egan, and Sean Lyngaas of CNN.