Layoffs begin at the IRS, as DOGE cuts collide with tax season

Zoom in: Layoffs began Thursday for dozens of Denver-based Internal Revenue Service employees.

• Between 120 and 150 Denver IRS employees are on the chopping block, National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 32 president Patricia Allen told Axios Denver on Thursday morning.
• Most are probationary employees, she said, and are being cut from multiple divisions, including collections and tax compliance.
• Some employees were laid off early Thursday morning, Allen said. As of mid-morning, more were waiting for an email that was expected to tell them they had 30 minutes to vacate the premises.

"There are many, many, more than 100,000 people working to collect taxes, and not all of them are fully occupied," Kevin Hassett, director of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters this afternoon.

• Asked if the cuts numbered around 3,500, Hassett said that "probably can get bigger, especially as we improve the IT at the IRS."

What they're saying: "I've been with the IRS for 20 years, and I've never seen this kind of layoff. Never," the union's Allen said.

• The national president of Allen's union, Doreen Greenwald, called the firings a "recipe for economic disaster."
• "In the middle of a tax filing season, when taxpayers expect prompt customer service and smooth processing of their tax returns, the administration has chosen to decimate the whole operation by sending dedicated civil servants to the unemployment lines."
• The White House was not immediately available to comment on the layoffs or their impact on tax season.

Zoom out: Just two weeks ago, IRS employees who are critical to tax season were told they would not be able to take the administration's so-called "deferred resignation" offer until after tax season.

• It's not yet clear whether the layoffs will slow down the filing season, but tax experts are warning about the possibility. The agency has long been plagued by staffing shortages.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday evening that Trump's goal is to "abolish" the IRS.

Arlene R., who requested partial anonymity for fear of retribution, is a Denver employee who has worked for the past five months in the IRS' special compliance department overseeing collections.

• She was bracing for the termination letter to hit her inbox at any point Thursday morning.
• "So many of us don't even know how we're going to make our rent, how we're going to put food on the table," she told Axios Denver. "This is just absolutely incredible that one man has this power to do this."

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with White House comments.