IRS COO Melanie Krause named acting commissioner

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent named Internal Revenue Service chief operating officer Melanie Krause as acting commissioner after the retirement of acting commissioner Douglas O’Donnell.

O’Donnell has been acting commissioner since January, taking over from former IRS commissioner Danny Werfel, who announced he would be resigning on Inauguration Day after President Trump named Billy Long, a former congressman from Missouri, as the next commissioner, even though Werfel’s term wasn’t scheduled to end until November 2027. O’Donnell had been deputy commissioner at the IRS at the time, and was previously acting commissioner from November 2022 to March 2023 during the transition between former IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig and Werfel. 

“The IRS has been my professional home for 38 years,” O’Donnell said in a statement Tuesday. “I care deeply about the institution and its people and am confident that Melanie will be an outstanding steward of the Service until a new Commissioner is confirmed.” 

The IRS has been going through a period of turmoil, with an estimated 6,700 IRS employees laid off last week in the middle of tax season. A group of former IRS commissioners is warning about the impact, including delayed refunds and longer telephone response times. 

Senate confirmation hearings have not yet been scheduled for Long, but he is expected to be questioned about his record of promoting the fraud-plagued Employee Retention Tax Credit after leaving Congress, as well as his sponsorship of a bill to eliminate the IRS while he was in Congress.

Until Long is confirmed, IRS COO Krause will now move into O’Donnell’s deputy commissioner role and serve as acting commissioner of the nation’s tax agency. 

“On behalf of the Treasury Department, I want to thank Doug O’Donnell for his decades of public service and dedication to the nation’s taxpayers,” Bessent said in a statement Tuesday. “He has been a remarkable public servant, and I wish him the best in retirement. At the same time, Melanie Krause and the agency’s leadership team are well positioned to serve during this critical period for the nation in advance of the April tax deadline.” 

Krause has served as IRS COO since April 2024 after acting as deputy commissioner of operations support since January of the same year. As COO, she oversees the operations including the Chief Financial Officer; Chief Risk Office; Facilities Management and Security Services; Human Capital Office; Office of Chief Procurement; Privacy, Governmental Liaison and Disclosure; Research, Applied Analytics and Statistics. 

She began her career at the IRS in October 2021 as chief data and analytics officer. In this role, in addition to leading the RAAS team, Krause also coordinated research activities including using AI and other advanced analytics. Krause also served as acting deputy commissioner for services and enforcement from November 2022 to March 2023. 

Prior to joining the IRS, Krause spent 12 years in the federal oversight community, including the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Krause also maintains an active license as a registered nurse. She holds bachelor, master and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.