Thousands of workers are set to be out of a job at the IRS with just under two months left in the tax filing season.Thousands of workers are set to be out of a job at the IRS with just under two months left in the tax filing season. Thousands of workers are set to be out of a job at the IRS with just under two months left in the tax filing season.
The Internal Revenue Service is the latest agency set for layoffs amid President Donald Trump’s hectic purge of the federal government. It’s unprecedented for the middle of tax season, and no doubt you’re concerned about whether it will mean a delay for your tax refund.
Last week, we learned that around 6,000 IRS employees, mostly new hires or newly promoted workers, were set to be laid off, out of a national workforce of roughly 100,000. Agency sources told ABC News that most employees let go were centered in Washington, DC, with others from offices in states like Florida, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.
These sources stressed that efforts were made to cut employees less involved in the filing process, but some experts countered that this disruption is bound to gum up the handling of tax returns anyway. The IRS has taken a number of hits recently, including an indefinite hiring freeze ordered by Trump and the prospect of a government shutdown.
These layoffs are among the rampant cuts to the federal government being made by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative. Since Trump took office, similar cuts have occurred at agencies like the United States Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
There’s a lot still to unfold, but keep reading for everything we know about how all of this will impact your tax returns. For more tax coverage, find out if you’re eligible for the child tax credit and see if your state has its own version.
What sort of employees were let go from the IRS?
According to ABC News, some of the laid-off IRS employees are from the unit focused on small businesses and the self-employed, plus “clerks in various units,” members of the agency’s appeals team and workers with the Taxpayer Advocacy Service, an independent office focused on advocating for taxpayer rights.
ABC’s sources said efforts were made to minimize the number of cuts among IRS employees with “direct” involvement in tax return processing.
Will these IRS layoffs delay my tax return or tax refund?
We won’t really know how much these layoffs will delay tax returns until it starts happening. That said, experts like IRS enrolled agent Jassen Bowman expect that delays are inevitable, though they could be minor. (An enrolled agent has the same standing as attorneys and CPAs to represent people who have administrative issues with the IRS.)
“During filing season, numerous personnel from other departments are shifted over to return processing due to the volume,” Bowman wrote in an email exchange with CNET. “So yes, these layoffs will have an impact in processing times, even if it’s a small impact.”
Bowman noted that workers from the Taxpayer Advocate Service and the SB/SE Division are sometimes directly involved in helping a small number of people file their taxes, so these layoffs would impact them as well.
Richard Pon, a San Francisco-based certified public accountant, told USA Today that these layoffs “definitely will impact tax season as cuts would have immediate impact.” Beyond processing delays, Pon said, taxpayers can expect longer wait times on customer service lines, longer audit processes and the potential closure of in-person service centers.
Is there any way to speed up my tax return?
While delays are likely across the board no matter how you file your tax return, doing it electronically will still get you through the process quicker. Tax experts and the IRS itself have long advocated for e-filing as a quicker way to do your returns, as they cut down considerably on the work needed to get them processed.
“E-file has been the superior, speedier option since the day it was launched,” Bowman said. “There are only a teeny-tiny number of situations that the e-file system can’t handle and that require a paper return.”
For more, find out if joint filing is the best option for you.