IRS to lay off taxpayer experience, DEI staff

The IRS has issued job termination notices to employees in its Taxpayer Experience Office and its Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Taxpayer Services. 

IRS employees received an email on Friday, obtained by Nextgov/FCW, informing them that the tax agency had started a reduction in force in the two offices as part of its plans to cut thousands of employees. Other parts of the agency have been affected already.

The Taxpayer Experience Office was set up in 2022. Charles Rettig, a former IRS chief appointed by Trump, said at the time that the office would “help unify and expand efforts across the IRS to improve service to taxpayers.”

Staff were told in a town hall meeting Friday that all staff in the Taxpayer Experience Office would be laid off in 60 days, one affected IRS employee told Nextgov/FCW.

They received an RIF notice later that day noting that the IRS was abolishing “some positions” in the office as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce.

Staff in the customer-focused office have been working on projects like improving the functionality of online IRS accounts, taking jargon out of IRS notices sent to taxpayers, improving the IRS tool that shows people their refund status and more, according to the affected IRS employee. What happens next to that work is unclear, they added. 

The IRS isn’t the first agency to cut staff focused on customer experience, or the public’s satisfaction levels when they interact with the government. The Social Security Administration shuttered its Office of Transformation in February only to later bring back some of its staff. 

At the IRS, the cuts follow reporting from the Associated Press that the Trump administration is ending Direct File, the tax agency’s free, online filing service stood up under the Biden administration — news that the leader of civic tech organization Code for America, Amanda Renteria, called a “massive misstep.” 

“Beyond hurting American taxpayers today — it would undermine the very foundation of public trust we desperately need to build,” she said in a statement. 

IRS staff were also told via email on Friday that the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Taxpayer Services would see layoffs. It's unclear how many employees will be affected. The Trump administration has been razing DEI programs since taking office. 

The layoffs reverse recent efforts under the Biden administration to staff up at the IRS after Congress gave the tax agency tens of billions under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Since the start of the Trump administration, the tax agency’s top leadership position has been occupied by several acting heads, and top executives have left the agency, which recently made headlines for sharing taxpayer data with immigration enforcement officials — a major shift from how the agency has typically handled taxpayer data.

The IRS did not respond to a request for comment on Direct File or on the latest layoffs initiated Friday.

GovExec Senior Correspondent Eric Katz contributed to this story.