I.R.S. Expected to Lay Off Thousands

[CountAllVotes]

Source: New York Times

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to lay off thousands of employees as soon as next week, according to three people familiar with the matter, as the Trump administration pushes to dramatically shrink the size of the federal work force.

The Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s human resources department, ordered agencies across the government this week to terminate probationary employees, who are relatively new to their positions and do not enjoy as much job protection. It was unclear on Friday exactly how many I.R.S. employees would be affected by the order.

An I.R.S. spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment nor did a spokesman for the Treasury Department.

A sudden drop in the number of employees at the I.R.S. could interfere with the agency’s work to process millions of Americans’ tax returns. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg News last week that the department, which oversees the I.R.S., would limit changes until after tax season ends in the spring.


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/us/politics/irs-layoffs.html

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We need to FIGHT this, all of it!

NOW!

It might be a wise idea to file your income tax return as soon as you can IMO.

[Renew Deal]

1. I agree

And I wonder if people have already been filing at a higher rate than normal. It wouldn't surprise me if the gov't suddenly claimed there was no money for refunds, especially after the potential shutdown deadline.

[CountAllVotes]

2. Some have received their refunds

They filed about two weeks ago.

I went to the local Senior Resource Center the other day and they e-filed mine for me. I have a small refund coming (hopefully!).

File now if you have a refund due is my advice.

[Lulu KC]

3. I heard originally that they were waiting until the tax season ends--that's June

This is still in the article, but the probationary people have to leave now?

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg News last week that the department, which oversees the I.R.S., would limit changes until after tax season ends in the spring."

Makes. No. Sense. Again.

[Bengus81]

22. Same thing I heard/read. I doubt anyone leaves for months

[Lulu KC]

27. Except, apparently, the probationaries, who are probably mostly seasonal

Just there for the tax season.

If refunds are slowed down, there will be lots of complaining for Trusk to hear about.

[Stargazer99]

4. This will enable the wealthy to hide monies and you middleclass will be forced to make up their tax hiding with no one

checking the tax cheating by the wealthy. Last year more monies were given to IRS to audit the wealthy...the found over ONE BILLION in taxes NOT PAID by the wealthy....well on the way to destroy this nation,

[CountAllVotes]

8. I was audited last year

Seems my return was off by a whopping $3.00.

I am not middle class fyi, I am low income and YES, I pay taxes.

I guess you do not know how the system works; I do.

[Stargazer99]

23. It costs less to audit low income (low income are less complicated) hence more funds to

audit the wealthy because they are complicated. And it takes less manpower and time to audit the low income so they will most likely be the ones audited while they wealthy get off scot free, we get more bang for the buck auditing the wealthy so they make fewer audits by taking away the employees that can find out where the wealthy have hidden the money to tax

[Initech]

9. Republicans are destroying this country.

[CountAllVotes]

10. Their goal is to eliminate people like me

Disabled, low income and barely hanging on.

What a sick batch of freaks!

[Wicked Blue]

11. Right during tax season

These mass layoffs are not about saving money -- they are about wrecking the United States of America.

[Woodycall]

14. And protecting billionaires...

(and actually more importantly, millionaires and centi-millionaires - because there are 1000s of times more of them) from tax audits! All the average person will get is the slowing of the processing of our returns and refunds and of course, an increase in our tax burdens. Just as they have planned.

[TimeToGo]

12. Is there no civil service protection?

[C0RI0LANUS]

13. What would happen to the US government and the Trumpf regime if no one filed their taxes this year?

[kkmarie]

16. My exact thought

What if we don't file? What and who is going to do anything? If they gut the staff at the IRS.

I know they'll come get us. They'd have to. They need our money. And most are not rich enough to get away with it.

[24601]

20. Since 2/3 of returns result in refunds, I'd expect the most common response would be, "Thank you for your contribution."

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Good luck on getting your refund right away

Do these legends in their own minds ever think these things through?

[catbyte]

17. I knew they'd pull some bullshit like this so that's why I filed on February 1.

I was afraid if I waited any longer it would take 6 months to get my refund. It hit my bank on Wednesday and I was frankly surprised it was so fast given the chaos.

I'm exhausted with all this already, sigh.

[CountAllVotes]

18. I'm exhausted too!

I got up to check my bank account and discovered fraud on my VISA card (amazon.com Prime = something I would NEVER enroll in!).

I got the card closed out and I hope I get my small refund soon.

It is so difficult living in this situation, poor or not poor!

I am glad to know you got your refund so quickly catbyte!

I filed on Tuesday myself and I hope it comes through for me as I have many bills coming up.'

Property taxes are first on the list!

[Jit423]

19. MAKING AMERICA BROKE AND BROKEN

The GOP wet dream. Pretty soon some wealthy communist will be able to buy the US...who needs Greenland?

[NickB79]

21. If you get a refund, do your taxes NOW

Do not wait until April, or you may not see that return for months.

I'm buying TurboTax today, gonna do it tonight.

[milestogo]

24. Got my refund today.

Took a week.

It seems idiotic to do a purge like this during tax season.

[CountAllVotes]

28. This calculator works well for Federal taxes

https://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/1040-tax-calculator/

I used it before I went to have my taxes done and e-filed at the local Senior Center.

It was totally 100% accurate for a 1040.

Best of luck.

[Bengus81]

25. They want ALL the agents OUT that were going after the super rich and BUSTING them....

Trump and his NAZI bunch want them out and back to business as usual. Go after people with no means to fight them--they usually just bend over and send a check whether it's warranted or not.

They tried that rap on me for about $850 ten years ago when I was still working and self employed. Between myself and my long time tax preparer we beat their asses with facts and documents showing they were full of shit--and they knew it. They backed off and closed the case in about 60 days. Guess they figured with a relatively low amount like that I'd just shit my pants and mail them a check that day. Wrong! We are the people the IRS goes after,not the rich.....

The filthy rich will one again (after they drain the IRS and get an audit notice) tell them we'll drag this audit out for the next ten years OR you can go hassle people that aren't millionaires and billionaires and collect from most of them in a flash.

[A_Steel_Magnolia]

26. On tax collection...a couple of points.

Tax fraud (of which TSF was convicted ) is a felony, usually involving serious penalties; not filing a return is a misdemeanor, usually corrected with financial penalties and interest. The IRS collected many millions of dollars from millionaires who didn't file returns between 2017 and 2020 after Biden beefed up the IRS budget and staff. The IRS has been understaffed for decades.

Find another way to save money besides loaning the US government interest free money.

[CountAllVotes]

29. I am getting a minimal refund

Believe me, minimal.

[A_Steel_Magnolia]

30. Excellent!