The IRS will furlough nearly half of its workforce on Wednesday as part of the ongoing government shutdown, according to an updated contingency plan posted to its website. The news comes after President Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement to fund federal operations, and the government shutdown has entered its second week, with no discernible endgame in sight.
The agency's initial Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan, which provided for the first five business days of operations, stated that the department would remain open using Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act funds. Now, only 39,870 employees, or 53.6%, will remain working as the shutdown continues. It is unclear which workers will remain on the job, reports the AP.
Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a statement that taxpayers should expect increased wait times, backlogs, and delays implementing tax law changes as the shutdown continues. "Taxpayers around the country will now have a much harder time getting the assistance they need, just as they get ready to file their extension returns due next week," she said. "Every day these employees are locked out of work is another day of frustration for taxpayers and a growing backlog of work that sits and waits for the shutdown to end."
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The notice to workers states that furloughed workers and those who remain on the job will receive back pay once the shutdown ends. This is notable since the Republican administration on Tuesday warned of no guaranteed back pay for federal workers affected by a government shutdown. Last week, Trump said roughly 750,000 federal workers nationwide were expected to be furloughed across agencies, with some potentially fired by his administration. Earlier this year the IRS embarked on mass layoffs, spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency. At the end of 2024, the agency employed roughly 100,000 workers; the count currently hovers around 75,000.
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