President Donald Trump is working to reduce the number of employees staffed by the IRS. This move marks the latest in a series of mass firing of federal workers.
As it was reported in the news, the Trump administration began firing more than 6,000 IRS employees on Thursday. These job cuts are affecting probationary employees around the country who were recently hired, 5,000 of which are part of the agency’s teams that deal with auditing and collection, according with the New York Times. Probationary employees are generally those on the job for less than a year. A person who has been a long-serving employee but moved to a new position is also often considered in a probationary position.
In addition to the firings, the IRS, among other federal agencies, are currently under a hiring freeze, the IRS can expect to be flooded with taxpayers’ paperwork and questions over the coming weeks. Ahead of the April 15 deadline, the IRS expects more than 140 million individual tax returns to be filed. Amid the hiring freeze and mass layoffs, many are wondering whether the agency’s effectiveness could be impacted during its busiest months.
The hiring freeze and layoffs may call for a new sense of urgency as refunds could be delayed, for that reason experts recommend to file early. The agency says taxpayers can use Where’s My Refund? to check the status of their 2024 income tax refund within 24 hours of e-filing. Refund information is normally available after four weeks for taxpayers who filed a paper return.
“If you e-file your return, you can usually see your refund status after about 48 hours with Where’s My Refund? You can get your refund information for the current year and past 2 years,” the IRS said.