DOGE proposes cutting IRS workforce by a total of nearly 20%
Rene Marsh Marshall Cohen
By Rene Marsh and Marshall Cohen, CNN
Updated 2:33 PM EDT, Thu March 13, 2025
CNN —
The Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency are proposing a dramatic downsizing of the IRS that would result in a nearly 20% reduction of its workforce by May 15 — one month after Tax Day in the United States.
President Donald Trump has ordered agencies across the federal government to turn in their “large scale” layoff plans — known as Reduction in Force, or RIF — by Thursday.
The details of the IRS proposal have been laid out in an email from DOGE and will be discussed at a meeting among agency leadership Thursday morning, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The proposal has not been made public.
The latest round of layoffs would terminate nearly 6,800 employees — on top of about 6,700 probationary employees who have already been fired and 4,700 employees who took the “voluntary buyout” known as the “Fork in the Road” program from the Trump administration. Probationary employees are hires who generally have have been on the job for less than a year.
It’s unclear how many of the roughly 6,700 fired probationary employees will be reinstated as a result of a major court ruling Thursday, which ordered the Trump administration to bring back probationary workers that were terminated from six federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, the IRS’ parent agency.
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https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/13/politics/doge-irs-workforce-cuts-downsizing