IRS needed to backfill thousands of jobs after cutbacks

The Internal Revenue Service had to hire over 2,000 employees after reducing its workforce last year by nearly a third, according to a new report.

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The report, released Friday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, noted that the IRS offered several voluntary separation programs, including the Deferred Resignation Program, Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment, last year. Many IRS employees who opted to accept these offers received pay through Sept. 30, 2025, or later if they were eligible to retire between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025. 

The latest report provides a snapshot of IRS workforce impacts as of January 2026, but doesn’t include the IRS’s more recent hiring efforts since tax season.

IRS records show that 31,273 employees separated, accepted a Deferred Resignation Program offer, or used another incentive to leave the agency between January 2025 and January 2026. The departures represent about 30% of the IRS workforce and impacted some business units more than others. However, the IRS later began “backfilling” some select positions and hired about 2,000 employees as of January 2026, resulting in a net staffing reduction of 28%, according to the report.

The reductions affected some IRS business units and jobs more than others. Approximately 33% of revenue agents (3,864) and around 32% of tax examiners (5,001) separated from the IRS. Revenue agents conduct examinations and audits by reviewing financial records of individuals and businesses to verify what is reported, TIGTA noted, while tax examiners are responsible for reviewing and processing federal tax returns to ensure compliance and accuracy.

The reductions also slashed 31% of management and program analysts (1,546 jobs), 30% of miscellaneous clerks and assistants (2,184), 28% of contact representatives (7,512) and 27% of IT management (2,143). Among the most heavily impacted business units were 39% of Small Business/Self-Employed (9,796 jobs), 32% of Tax-Exempt/Government Entities (723), 31% of the Human Capital Office (926), 29% of IT (2,490), 28% of Large Business and International (1,943) and 26% of Taxpayer Services (11,284). 

Some employees who helped with filing season, including employees in Taxpayer Services and contact representatives in IRS Collections, could not be placed on administrative leave until June 30, 2025, after they had accepted the voluntary buyouts. 

Later, between September 2025 and Jan. 10, 2026, the IRS hired 2,287 employees to support the Taxpayer Services business unit. They included 2,238 contact representatives and 49 tax examiners. However, 590 of the 2,287 employees hired were existing IRS employees who accepted the new positions.

With 11,330 employees leaving Taxpayer Services from January 2025 to Jan. 10, 2026, the IRS involuntarily detailed 1,173 employees from other business units to Taxpayer Services to address critical staffing shortages and potential filing season backlogs. The detail was supposed to last for 120 days to assist with the 2026 filing season. The employees were detailed on Feb. 22, 2026, with a tentative end date of June 13, 2026, but the majority were subsequently extended for another 120 days. The IRS notified the affected employees of the involuntary detail to serve as contact representatives or managers. Although they were “temporarily detailed,” the affected employees will remain in their position of record with the same pay and benefits, according to the report.

Due to court orders, a number of employees who had received layoff notices as part of a reduction in force were allowed to stay with the IRS. In April 2025, the IRS sent RIF notices to the following three offices: Office of Civil Rights and Compliance (179 employees); Taxpayer Experience Office (106 employees), Taxpayer Service’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (nine employees). However, due to court orders, these RIF actions have been canceled, TIGTA reported, and the employees have returned to work. “As of January 2026, these employees remain in their positions, unless they voluntarily separated or moved to another position within the IRS,” said the report.

Despite the IRS’s efforts to bolster its workforce for tax season, a separate report released Monday by TIGTA found that taxpayers were continuing to experience customer service issues when calling certain IRS phone lines.

The IRS recorded nearly 3.8 million calls on its Compliance Services and Accounts Management telephone lines from Feb. 15, 2025, through May 15, 2025. TIGTA listened to 200 of the call recordings. While the report found that taxpayers generally experienced courteous service and received an accurate response to their questions, TIGTA also identified some instances where improvements are needed. Of the 200 call recordings in the sample, it identified 52 (26%) where IRS representatives did not provide quality service. The IRS’s own internal quality reviews identified similar issues and found instances where IRS representatives did not transfer calls appropriately or use professional courtesy. 

“We remain committed to respecting and protecting taxpayer rights, including the right to receive prompt, courteous and professional service under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights,” wrote Kenneth Corbin, chief of the Taxpayer Services Division at the IRS, in response to the report. “We appreciate your recognition that our Customer Service Representatives were courteous and professional in the majority of telephone calls reviewed.”