Former IRS Chiefs See Rocky Road Ahead For The Agency

The IRS just emerged from the longest shutdown of 2025, but lawmakers funded the government only through Jan. 30, 2026. According to a report by the Journal of Accountancy, an academic publication published by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA & CIMA), former commissioner John Koskinen said a shutdown starting Jan. 31 would land as taxpayers begin filing.

"It would be, I think, disaster to do it again on Jan. 31," he said. "You can't imagine a worse time to have a shutdown than the end of January."

Danny Werfel, commissioner from 2023 to early 2025, said the IRS must tell taxpayers and preparers which services stay open if money runs out. "It will be important more than ever to have good transparency with all the stakeholders — obviously, the tax-filing public, the preparers, the lawyers, the accountants," Werfel said.

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Staff Exodus and New Law Raise Demand

The IRS opened the 2025 season on Jan. 27 and expected more than 140 million returns by the April 15 deadline. A Treasury inspector general report said the IRS processed 144.8 million returns last season and beat its 85% telephone service target.

However, IRS records indicate that approximately 25,386 employees left in 2025 through buyouts or other separations, more than a quarter of the workforce. Former acting commissioner Doug O'Donnell said the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes this year "particularly complicated" and "creates a lot of challenges for tens of millions of individuals," likely raising demand for IRS help.

IRA Funds Shrink; Taxpayer Advocate Backlog Grows

Werfel said the IRS used Inflation Reduction Act funding to keep some operations running during the last shutdown. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reports Congress has cut that supplemental pot to about $37.6 billion available through 2031.

National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said her office shut down during the lapse and returned to a backlog that grows by roughly 5,000 new cases a week. "Please be patient," she told practitioners and taxpayers.

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