IRS to Lose Up to 5,000 Workers to Deferred Resignation Bid (1)

Between 4% and 5% of the IRS workforce have taken the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, the leader of the agency’s union said.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 IRS employees accepted the bid by billionaire Elon Musk, who is advising the administration, to lure federal workers to resign and continue being paid until Sept. 30, said Doreen Greenwald, national president of National Treasury Employees Union. The IRS has about 100,000 employees.

“The treatment of federal employees since Jan. 20 has been horrendous,” Greenwald said, speaking at the union’s legislative conference in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. “They feel attacked. They feel demoralized. So many have opted to just say, ‘I’m out, I’m done.’”

At the same time, Greenwald noted that union membership—which represents close to two-thirds of IRS workers—is up.

About 75,000 federal employees have signed up for a voluntary resignation, failing to meet the White House goals of 5% to 10% cuts of the entire civilian federal workforce, as of mid-February.

IRS workers who were deemed critical to tax filing season were told that the resignation offer was delayed until after May 15.

These workers were also exempt from the round of layoffs impacting newly hired IRS employees in an attempt not to disrupt filing season, which ends April 15. The IRS terminated roughly 7,400 employees from other divisions.

While taxpayers won’t necessarily feel the ramifications of the workforce overhaul immediately, it will likely impact next filing season, with planning typically happening over a year out, Greenwald said.

“With what is planned, you will not see a successful filing season next year,” Greenwald said. “You are likely going to see backlogs of returns not being processed because they don’t have the people to do the work.”

Speaking at the same NTEU event Tuesday, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) defended federal workers and criticized Trump’s policies to gut that workforce.

“You think you want to slash and burn the federal workforce, you better be careful what you wish for,” Fitzpatrick said.