President Donald Trump has issued an indefinite hiring freeze for the Internal Revenue Service.
Trump issued an executive order Monday night ordering a 90-day hiring freeze for all federal agencies — except for the Internal Revenue Service, which will remain under the freeze until his administration determines “that it is in the national interest” to hire again.
With tax season set to begin on January 27 and the filing deadline less than four months away, how will this impact your tax return?
The IRS says officials issue refunds within 21 days for taxpayers who file online and select the direct deposit option. However, some experts say this hiring freeze could slow down the work of public agencies as the U.S. enters tax season this spring.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be immediately concerned about this having an outsized impact on their filing, Dr. Steven Hamilton, an economics professor at George Washington University who specializes in public finance, told The Independent.
“I would say we shouldn't immediately assume that it will be very disruptive,” Hamilton said.
That’s because of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated billions of dollars in additional funding to the IRS. Thanks to those funds, the IRS has a far larger staff than they did four years ago, Hamilton explained.
“The IRS will function much better today and in the upcoming filing season with this hiring freeze than they would have, say, four years ago,” he said.
Hamilton noted that the hiring freeze could impact wealthier individuals, however, because the agency may have fewer resources for auditing.
“A hiring freeze on the IRS is like reducing enforcement on high income individuals,” he added. “If you don't hire the people who could audit their returns more intensively...then they get away with more tax evasion.”
The freeze could also “prove problematic during tax season” because the IRS typically hires “thousands of temporary workers” to help with the workload, according to Michael Cohn, Editor-in-Chief of the outlet Accounting Today.
It could also make federal agencies “less responsive to the public,” Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, similarly told Government Executive.
“This order could leave agencies with hiring gaps in critical areas, and it will deter the talented workers needed for a well-functioning government, especially those with specialized skills,” Stier said.
The hiring freeze comes after Trump signed an executive order Monday to establish the Department of Government Efficiency, making it a part of the Executive Office of the President despite earlier promises that it would operate outside of government.
The agency is now called the U.S. DOGE Service and will replace the U.S. Digital Service, which was established under former president Barack Obama.
Before the 90 days are up, the DOGE administrator and the heads of the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management must submit a plan to “reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition.”
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is set to lead DOGE. Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was initially set to co-lead DOGE, but departed the role this week ahead of an expected campaign for Ohio governor.
The Independent has contacted the Treasury Department and IRS for comment.
