By Rene Marsh and Marshall Cohen

(CNN) — The Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency are proposing a dramatic downsizing of the IRS that would result in a nearly 20% reduction of its workforce by May 15 — one month after Tax Day in the United States.

President Donald Trump has ordered agencies across the federal government to turn in their “large scale” layoff plans — known as Reduction in Force, or RIF — by Thursday.

The details of the IRS proposal have been laid out in an email from DOGE and will be discussed at a meeting among agency leadership Thursday morning, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The proposal has not been made public.

The latest round of layoffs would terminate nearly 6,800 employees — on top of about 6,700 probationary employees who have already been fired and 4,700 employees who took the “voluntary buyout” known as the “Fork in the Road” program from the Trump administration. Probationary employees are hires who generally have have been on the job for less than a year.

It’s unclear how many of the roughly 6,700 fired probationary employees will be reinstated as a result of a major court ruling Thursday, which ordered the Trump administration to bring back probationary workers that were terminated from six federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, the IRS’ parent agency.

Echoing concerns sounded by experts and other employees, the source says these cuts could impact the amount of revenue the IRS brings in and that could ripple through the federal government as IRS funds nearly all government operations. While April 15 is the deadline for tax returns to be filed, the agency processes tax returns year-round.

“Depending upon how we effectuate these cuts, it could dramatically reduce revenue, dramatically reduce customer service,” the source said, adding that the cuts could also impact voluntary tax compliance.

“If we are not auditing much, it impacts people’s willingness to file honestly in the first place,” the source said.

One current IRS employee, who spoke anonymously to CNN, said Thursday’s news about impending staff reductions made a difficult workplace environment even more challenging.

“Morale is suffering,” the IRS employee said after the latest cuts were unveiled. “More and more of our workdays are taken up by questions, meetings, new issues coming down the pike and new directives from outside our agency. And really, all we want to do is do our jobs.”

The employee said the “everyday status quo” within the tax-collection agency already features people crying, managers apologizing for the firings and chaos, and social media “in a frenzy.”

Like most IRS employees, this person is not based in Washington, DC, and they’re a leader in their local union representing IRS employees. They spoke anonymously to avoid potential retaliation from the DOGE teams who are eyeing additional cuts.

The-CNN-Wire
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