IRS tasks more staff without any tax experience to process tax returns

The Internal Revenue Service is transferring another batch of employees to assist during tax filing season, renewing concerns among the workforce that staff highly specialized in fields not directly related to taxes are being thrust into roles for which they have no qualification.

The temporary reassignments follow IRS shedding tens of thousands of employees over the last year and come amid warnings from the agency’s watchdogs that it is ill-prepared for its busiest time of the year. IRS last week shifted hundreds of human resources employees into its taxpayer services office to assist with filing season workload and this week notified former IT staff that they too would work on issues related to tax returns and customer service. 

IRS management is placing employees into contact representative and tax examiner roles, though emails obtained by Government Executive stated they will not engage with taxpayers directly or answer phones. Employees will evaluate and research records to answer inquiries from individual taxpayers or analyze tax returns to help correct accounts, the agency told impacted staff. 

“As planned in advance of the 2026 tax season, the IRS will be redeploying resources to Taxpayer Services,” Joseph Ziegler, a former whistleblower related to IRS’ handling of Hunter Biden’s taxes and who now serves as the agency’s chief of internal consulting, said in an email to employees. “We are grateful to our team for their service to America and for their support of our mission.”

Employees who shared their new assignments with Government Executive worked in the IRS IT office until December, when they—along with about 1,500 colleagues—were transferred to the Office of the Chief Operating Officer. They have sat in limbo with no work assignments ever since. 

Now, they will work in Taxpayer Services for 120-day details that may be extended. 

“I am grateful for no longer sitting on my a-- wasting taxpayer money for months, but this has the potential to be a disaster,” said one detailed employee, noting the lack of relevant experience for those assigned to the new roles. 

Employees said they have not received any specifics on what they will be doing outside of Zeigler’s email. They said they and their colleagues had no experience working on tax issues. 

“It’s going to be hard for a lot of people,” the employee said. “Most of us are 50-plus and being asked to learn something quickly.” 

Another reassigned employee said they worked as a systems administrator and have spent their entire career in large, enterprise IT departments. 

“I don’t even do my own taxes at home, my wife does,” the person said. “I do IT, not taxes.” 

Employees are set to begin training Feb. 23. IRS did not respond to an inquiry into what that training will look like or how long it will last, nor did it say how many total employees are going out on details. 

The details come as IRS has dramatically slashed its workforce, cutting more than 20,000 employees—or more than 20% of total staff—in the last year. The divisions seeking internal staffing support have seen similarly significant losses to their workforces and have struggled to rebuild in time for filing season—which began Jan. 26—according to a recent report from the IRS inspector general.

Those processing tax returns and providing telephonic and in-person customer service, as well as other duties related to filing season, have lost 8,300 workers, or 17% of their staff, the IG found.

The IRS division tasked with processing original and amended tax returns has hired just 50 employees in anticipation of the 2026 filing season, or 2% of its authorized level.

The IG warned the shortfalls could lead to delayed returns and slow service for taxpayers in the upcoming season and said the impacts have already been felt. Tax return backlogs were still elevated as a result of the pandemic, the IG said, but have soared higher due to staffing losses in IRS. The total now stands at 2 million, up 33% from a year ago.

IRS management had encouraged many of the employees reassigned from the IT office last year to apply to other openings throughout the agency and some of those workers were in that process when the reassignment orders came through. 

An IT employee predicted detailed workers will have to handle a wide array of complex issues, including questions from personal taxpayers, sole proprietors, partnerships, limited liability corporations, S corporations and C corporations. Like the human resources detailees, much of the former IT staff are at the top of the federal pay table and earn up to three times the compensation of employees who typically fill Taxpayer Services roles. 

In a similar move, Frank Bisignano, who is serving both as the IRS CEO and head of the Social Security Administration, has tapped SSA staff who normally process and approve benefits for retired and disabled Americans to instead serve in customer service, phone-answering positions. 

Last week, employees in the human capital office panicked about their lack of experience on any tax issues before receiving temporary reassignment orders. Detailed employees said they will have limited capacity to stop fraudulent returns, assist small businesses or otherwise help taxpayers due to their lack of training and understanding of the tax system and predicted “the error rate is going to skyrocket.”

“They are setting this agency up for failure for this tax season for sure,” one HCO employee said. “It’s going to make a bigger impact than people realize.”