The Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has released a report showing how the Internal Revenue Service has been dramatically impacted by government-wide efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce. As of March 2025, 11 percent of IRS employees had been either approved for the deferred resignation program (DRP) or were terminated during their probationary period, a total of more than 11,000 workers. At the beginning of the second Trump administration, the IRS had approximately 100,000 employees.

The DRP was announced in January 2025, and permits federal employees to resign but retain all pay and benefits through September 30, 2025. Employees who accepted the DRP were exempted from return-to-office requirements. According to TIGTA, as of March 2025, 4,128 IRS employees were approved for the DRP.

Also in January 2025, the federal Office of Personnel Management announced that probationary federal employees — referring to employees with less than one year of federal service — could be terminated immediately without triggering any civil service protections. According to TIGTA, as of March 2025, 7,315 probationary IRS employees received termination notices. Several lawsuits were filed challenging the termination of federal probationary employees, and one court ordered that such employees had to be rehired. In April 2025, the Supreme Court ordered a tentative stop to the rehiring of probationary employees. Accordingly, the current status of most terminated probationary employees is unclear.

Apart from the sheer number of employees who have left the IRS since January, the workforce reductions impact certain business units disproportionately and will undoubtedly impact the ability of the IRS to carry out its core functions. For example, the number of revenue agents — who conduct audits of individual and business tax returns — has declined by 31 percent. One quarter of those revenue agents came from the Large Business and International Division, and nearly one quarter came from the Small Business/Self-Employed Division. Revenue officers – who are responsible for collecting delinquent taxes — declined by 18 percent.

The job cuts at the IRS have also disproportionately impacted employees with more tenure and experience at the agency. While the terminations of probationary employees largely impacted workers with one year of service or less, those approved for the DRP have significantly longer years of service. More than 37 percent have up to 11 years of service, and 38 percent have worked at the IRS for more than 11 years.

The TIGTA report notes that further IRS workforce reductions are in progress. An executive order issued in February 2025 directs all federal agencies to prepare for large-scale reductions-in-force (RIF). In March 2025, the IRS placed 48 senior IT employees on administrative leave. In April 2025, the IRS announced that it had begun implementing a RIF that will impact multiple offices and job functions. With this RIF, the IRS is offering three voluntary separation programs to IRS employees, including the Treasury Deferred Resignation Program (TDRP) which is similar to the DRP. According to the IRS, over 23,000 employees have applied for the TRDP, and 13,124 were approved as of April 22, 2025.

TIGTA intends to periodically update its reporting on further workforce reductions at the IRS and how those job cuts affect key areas of the IRS mission.