Roughly 1 in 4 IRS employees have accepted a buyout offer and plan to resign, according to sources familiar with the matter, marking the largest workforce reduction at the agency in decades as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to shrink the federal government, the Westfair Business Journal reported.
Approximately 25% of the Internal Revenue Service workforce is set to leave the agency after accepting buyout offers under the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The buyout deadline passed Tuesday morning, and preliminary figures show that about 22,000 employees — out of a workforce of 90,000 — have opted to resign.
“This is enormous,” one of the sources told CNN.
The figures are still being worked out and could shift as paperwork is processed and data reviewed.
This is the second round of buyouts offered under the Trump administration. The first round, completed in early March, resulted in approximately 4,700 employees — about 5% of the workforce — leaving the agency. The second round will be significantly larger, according to CNN.
The Trump administration, working with the Elon Musk-aligned Department of Government Efficiency, has implemented a range of strategies to reduce the size of the federal workforce. These include buyouts, early retirement incentives, rescinded job offers and the termination of probationary employees.
CNN reported that officials hoped to cut IRS staff by at least 20%.
Tax policy experts and former IRS leaders have warned that sweeping staff reductions could negatively impact the agency’s ability to collect revenue and support taxpayers.
An IRS employee in Atlanta described worsening morale at the agency.
“I’m hearing a lot of people accepted the deferred resignation,” the employee said. “The workplace is toxic these days. Morale is low. People try to come in and think positively, but they don’t make it through a full workday without negativity, even in conversation with other employees, or getting the next email in their inbox with bad news.”
In addition to the buyouts, the IRS is expected to announce involuntary layoffs under an agency-wide “reduction in force,” or RIF, by the end of the week, according to CNN. The volume of resignations could reduce the need for some of those layoffs.
“I’m riding the wave and taking my chances with the RIF,” an IRS employee in New York said. “I will not accept a resignation.”
The Trump administration’s aggressive push to reshape the federal bureaucracy reflects a broader ideological stance favoring limited government and increased privatization. In particular, the cuts to the IRS represent one of the most significant reductions in a federal agency’s staffing in recent history.
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