IRS employees who took buyout told to stay through May 15

Internal Revenue Service employees who had agreed to the Trump administration's buyout offer are now being ordered to work at the agency until a month after the tax-filing deadline, prompting the head of the employee union to call it a "bait-and-switch."

"Some of the IRS employees who have agreed to the 'deferred resignation' are now being told they must stay on the job through May 15 because their work is essential to the tax filing season," said Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, in a statement Wednesday. "Not only is this a clear case of bait-and-switch — they were originally told they would be paid to not work through Sept. 30 — but it proves that the terms of OPM's so-called offer are unreliable and cannot be trusted."

The buyout offer from the White House's Office of Personnel Management aims to slash the federal government workforce. As of Wednesday, approximately 40,000 employees have accepted the buyout offer, or about 2% of the federal government workforce, according to Bloomberg News. But that's far short of the 10% goal, leading to fears of widespread layoffs. For now, though, it won't include IRS employees.

Positions in the IRS's Taxpayer Services, Information Technology and Taxpayer Advocate Service units are now required to work through at least May 15, even if they had responded favorably to the recent buyout offer from the OPM, according to an email sent to IRS employees Wednesday from the IRS Human Capital Office, according to Bloomberg Tax. Nearly half the IRS workforce of 100,000 works in Taxpayer Services or Information Technology, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate's latest annual report to Congress.

"We do welcome the admission, however, that IRS employees are vital to the agency mission," said Greenwald. "By requiring IRS employees to stay on the job longer than promised, the administration is proving what NTEU has been saying all along: IRS employees are essential and without them, the jobs that the American people depend upon will not get done. In the case of the IRS, it's answering taxpayer questions during filing season, processing tax returns and issuing refunds. But this holds true for frontline federal employees across government who safeguard the public health, promote economic growth and secure the nation. If their jobs are arbitrarily eliminated, those services are in jeopardy."

The IRS is already facing a hiring freeze as part of a government-wide hiring freeze that Trump ordered on Inauguration Day, and rescinded job offers for new employees who were supposed to begin working there next week.

Accessing taxpayer information

Democrats in Congress are also criticizing the Trump administration for granting access to sensitive private taxpayer information from the Treasury Department to Elon Musk's team, referred to as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

On Wednesday, House Ways and Means Committee Democrats, led by ranking member Richard Neal. D-Massachusetts, demanded answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on whether Elon Musk and his team of hackers have unlawful and unjust access to confidential taxpayer data protected by Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, and the power to delay or disrupt the 2025 filing season. They noted that the Treasury's payment system contains a broad swath of taxpayer data, including taxpayers' names, addresses, Social Security numbers and the amount of tax refunds, all of which is confidential.

"It is both unclear and unsettling why DOGE would be privy to this sensitive payment system and confidential taxpayer information," the lawmakers wrote in a letter Wednesday. "It is alarming that DOGE will decide whether and when hard-working American families will receive their tax refunds and may even pick and choose among them."

"Unauthorized disclosure of tax returns or return information is a felony and is punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both," the letter continued. "In fact, the House last year passed the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, which would have increased the fine from $5,000 to a maximum penalty of up to $250,000 and maximum imprisonment from 5 years to 10 years."