The hiring freeze will immediately impact the IRS.
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The hiring freeze at the IRS is officially on—and that includes rescinding existing job offers.
Executive Order
Last week, I reported that President Trump issued an executive order freezing hiring for most federal agencies. Specifically, the order says that “no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable law. Except as provided below, this freeze applies to all executive departments and agencies regardless of their sources of operational and programmatic funding.”
The hiring freeze does not apply to the military or “immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.”
The freeze is intended to be temporary—except for the IRS. Under the executive order, within 90 days, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with OPM and DOGE, must submit a plan to reduce the size of the government’s workforce. Once the plan is submitted, the freeze will expire for all agencies other than the IRS. With respect to the tax agency, the hiring freeze will remain in place until the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with OMB and DOGE, “determines that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze.”
Now, the IRS has made moves to comply.
IRS Jobs Website
According to the official IRS jobs website, candidates with offers with a start date on or before February 8, 2025, will be allowed to proceed with the onboarding process.
However, candidates with offers with a start date after February 8, 2025, or an unconfirmed start date will be revoked.
Finally, all jobs posted to USAJOBS.gov or any other external website used to market jobs (for example, Monster or LinkedIn) with the federal government will be removed.
The website referenced the hiring freeze and also links to a joint memorandum issued by The Office of Management and Budget and U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) titled, “Federal Civilian Hiring Freeze Guidance.” Agency heads impacted by the order were directed to revoke offers by the end of the work day on January 21, 2025—agency heads who may want to reinstate an offer must seek written approval from OPM.
A request for comment made to the IRS about the hiring freeze wasn’t immediately returned.
Several of those impacted by the freeze have posted messages on social media, including law professors trying to find jobs for students who are now out of luck. But many aren’t talking to the press, fearful of reprisals.
Threats To Existing IRS Jobs
As for existing IRS workers? Last week, Trump suggested he might fire IRS employees—or send them to the border. “They hired, or tried to hire, 88,000 workers to go after you and we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them, or maybe we’ll move them to the border,” he told a crowd at the Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
What he’s referring to is misinformation that went viral in 2022 and 2023 about IRS funding in the Inflation Reduction Act. The extra money was intended to help the IRS hire 87,000 new workers—including customer service and IT workers—over the next decade. However, the statements were weaponized in the public arena, suggesting that the IRS was arming its entire workforce. Former chief Jim Lee said last year that this was “wildly inappropriate and dangerous.”
Lee noted that the IRS doesn’t have that much manpower in all sectors combined. In 2024, Lee noted that CI personnel totaled around 3,200 to 3,300, with 2,200 sworn officers. Lee confirmed that those sworn officers are armed, but he says they should be. They are “working some of the most dangerous cases” out there, emphasizing their work tracking criminals.
As for the rest of the IRS? Those 82,990 employees (full-time workers as of 2023) don’t carry weapons, and most have nothing to do with enforcement. It’s a myth that the agency can’t shake.
IRS revenue collections—the bulk of which keep the lights on in the federal government—reached a ten-year high in 2022 (taking a slight dip in 2023). The IRS processed almost 271.5 million federal tax returns and supplemental documents in fiscal year 2023 (163,146,934 of those were individual income tax returns) and assisted nearly 60.3 million taxpayers through correspondence, telephone helplines, or Taxpayer Assistance Centers.
Reactions
Melanie Lauridsen, Vice President of Tax Policy & Advocacy for the American Institute of CPAs, said, about the moves, “Given changes with the new administration, the AICPA is watching closely for potential impacts to the Federal workforce and, in particular, the Internal Revenue Service. We are greatly sensitive to the filing season service challenges for members and taxpayers. While the AICPA acknowledges some concerns regarding the impact that the hiring freeze will have on tax administration, the IRS has said they will ‘reallocate workers from other areas to help cover filing season processing’ to meet the needs of this filing season. Notably, there is still a debate related to concerns stemming from previous filing seasons. IRS services is a top priority for the AICPA and we will continue to monitor and advocate for the much-needed service that our members and taxpayers deserve.”
(Note: Story updated to reflect comment from AICPA. This is a developing story.)
The recent hiring freeze at the IRS is already having a tangible impact as job offers are being rescinded, leaving potential employees in limbo. The freeze, which was put in place as part of the federal government’s efforts to reduce spending, is causing frustration and uncertainty among those who had been eagerly anticipating starting their new roles.
Many individuals who had received job offers from the IRS have now been informed that those offers are being revoked, leaving them scrambling to find alternative employment. This sudden change has left many people feeling disheartened and unsure of what their next steps should be.
The hiring freeze at the IRS is expected to have far-reaching implications, affecting not only those who were in the process of being hired, but also the agency’s ability to effectively carry out its mission. With fewer employees available to handle the workload, there are concerns that services may be delayed or compromised.
As the effects of the hiring freeze become more apparent, it is clear that both current and potential employees of the IRS will need to navigate a challenging and uncertain landscape. It remains to be seen how long the freeze will last and what the long-term impact will be on the agency and those who rely on its services.
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