The administration of US President Donald Trump began laying off thousands of employees of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Thursday, US media reported.
The new wave of job cuts follows previous layoffs at other federal agencies, where President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk claim they are implementing cost-saving measures.
According to Reuters, a senior IRS official tearfully confirmed on Thursday that 6,000 people have to go. This amounts to roughly 6% of the IRS workforce of about 100,000 employees, which includes accountants, lawyers, and other staff.
In recent days, the Trump administration has dismissed many probationary employees, who lack the same job protections as their permanent colleagues, across the federal government.
IRS managers started asking employees on Wednesday to report to the office in the coming days and to bring in their government-provided work materials, according to messages reviewed by The New York Times.
“Under a presidential directive, the IRS has been instructed to remove probationary employees deemed non-critical for the tax season,” one of the emails stated. “We don’t have many details we can share, but this is all related to complying with the directive.”
The layoffs coincide with the tax filing season in the US.
Former IRS officials and Democrats warn that losing such a large number of employees could still disrupt millions of Americans’ ability to file their taxes smoothly this year, even if the cuts do not directly affect those deemed “critical.”
The New York Times reported that IRS and the Treasury Department did not respond to its requests for comment.
