The IRS is imploding.

IRS Service Metrics Decline After 2025-2026 Workforce Reductions

Taxpayers and tax professionals have reported extended wait times and limited access to IRS assistance lines in 2026, following a reduction in agency staffing that began after the 2024 election. The agency’s workforce stood at 102,113 employees in January 2025 and fell to 75,702 by January 2026, according to data from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. This represents a net decline of approximately 28 percent.

The author of this article received a May 25 letter stating that additional tax was owed for 2025, along with interest and penalties. Review of bank records showed that quarterly estimated payments had been made on schedule but had not been credited. Multiple attempts to reach IRS telephone lines resulted in holds exceeding two hours or automated messages citing high call volume before disconnection. Similar accounts were provided by accountants and low-income taxpayer representatives.

Former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen stated in 2025 that rapid staffing losses remove institutional knowledge and impair operations. Traci DiMartini, former IRS human capital officer, said reductions of this scale make sustained functionality difficult. The agency has operated without a Senate-confirmed commissioner since August 2025.

In October 2025 the administration established an IRS CEO position and appointed Frank Bisignano, who also leads the Social Security Administration. At an April 2026 congressional hearing, Bisignano described the 2026 filing season as the most successful in IRS history and stated that reduced staffing had not impaired customer service.

Rep. Richard Neal, ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the administration had laid off close to a third of the workforce and that this had made routine inquiries difficult to resolve. The Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent office within the IRS, reported in June 2026 that live-answer rates during the filing season fell 20 percent from the prior year and that average hold times rose between 81 and 161 percent depending on the queue. Only 17 percent of calls routed through the automated voice system were completed without transfer or hang-up. On lines for taxpayers seeking installment agreements, live operators answered 30 percent of more than three million calls placed between January and April 18, with average waits of 45 minutes for those who reached an agent.

The Center for Taxpayer Rights measured a more than 70 percent increase in wait times on the main 1040 line even though call volume dropped 50 percent from 2025 levels. Its testers recorded a nearly 40 percent disconnect rate, most initiated by the IRS.

During the 2024 filing season, after funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act had been used to hire additional customer-service staff, the IRS answered more than one million additional calls and reduced average hold time from 28 minutes to three minutes, according to agency data. Those gains reversed after the 2025-2026 staffing reductions took full effect.

The IRS has experienced chronic funding constraints for decades. Republicans have repeatedly proposed abolishing the agency or sharply curtailing its appropriations; Sen. Ted Cruz has advocated placing a padlock on IRS headquarters and reassigning personnel to the southern border. Democrats secured the Inflation Reduction Act appropriation of roughly $80 billion over ten years in 2022. Most of that funding was later rescinded, though remaining amounts supported hiring and technology upgrades. Some staffing reductions in 2025 occurred through voluntary separation offers rather than involuntary terminations.

IT staffing fell more than 40 percent. Remaining technical personnel were reassigned in part to telephone duties. Taxpayers attempting to resolve accounts online encountered messages indicating partial system outages that blocked access to balance and payment history for extended periods.

One California taxpayer received notice that a payment had been rejected due to an incorrect bank account number, paid the amount online as instructed, then received a subsequent notice assessing penalties. After reaching an IRS representative who confirmed receipt of payment, the caller was transferred to another line that did not answer. Another taxpayer reported inability to reset an online account password because the system continued to direct verification texts to a phone number no longer in use, despite submission of identification documents.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service documented that the number of fully staffed Taxpayer Assistance Centers had been reduced from 102 to 42. Walk-in service requires advance appointments obtainable only by telephone.

Long-standing debate continues over whether the IRS has been systematically under-resourced or whether prior funding levels exceeded operational needs. The 2025 filing season occurred after initial staffing reductions yet was characterized by the administration as successful on multiple performance indicators. Subsequent data from the Taxpayer Advocate Service and independent testers show measurable deterioration in telephone service and online account access coinciding with the period after the larger workforce reductions were implemented.

The agency continues to direct taxpayers to online accounts and automated systems while telephone and in-person options remain constrained.