More than 20,000 IRS employees accepted the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is facing a historic staff reduction due to the deferred waiver offer proposed by the Trump administration.

According to a report by the New York Times, about 22,000 employees accepted the federal government's latest deferred resignation offer, which could affect the tax collection agency's operational capacity.

Before President Donald Trump's term in office, the IRS had approximately 100,000 employees. However, since January, some 5,000 staff members have resigned in addition to another 7,000 layoffs of probationary workers (these layoffs are being challenged in court).

If the layoffs and resignations materialize, the institution will lose about one-third of its workforce over the course of the year.

The deferred resignation offer grants paid administrative leave until September, when employees formally leave their positions. If employees regret their decisions, they can reverse them before the offer becomes effective.

Aggressively losing staff members is already having consequences at the agency: audits have been suspended and some taxpayers are beginning to perceive a weakened IRS, effectively creating incentives for tax evasion.

During Joe Biden's administration, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) added 20,000 new employees with the aim of strengthening collection capacity. This expansion generated intense criticism of the federal government, mainly due to allegations of possible abuses of power against taxpayers. However, the current administration seeks to reverse some of these hires without compromising the agency's operations.

The acting commissioner, Melanie Krause, was among those who resigned from the agency. Krause's decision to leave the agency is linked to the IRS's agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to share tax data, a move that generated controversy for breaking with a tradition of confidentiality.