Among the thousands of federal employees who could be furloughed after the federal government shut down are about half of the people who work for the Internal Revenue Service.
According to a contingency plan posted to ts website this week, the IRS will furlough nearly half of its workforce as the part of the ongoing government shutdown, which is moving through its second week. Most IRS operations are closed, the agency said in a separate letter to IRS workers, according to a report from The Associated Press.
The agency’s initial Lapse in Appropriations Contingency Plan provided for the first five business days of operations, when states that the department would remain open using funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, passed during the Biden Administration.
Now, only 39,870 employees, or 53.6%, will remain working as the shutdown continues.
Last week, President Donald Trump said roughly 750,000 federal workers nationwide were expected to be furloughed across agencies, with some potentially fired by his administration.
The IRS had already started with mass layoffs prompted by the Department of Government Efficiency. At the end of 2024, the agency employed roughly 100,000 workers – and currently hovers around 75,000, according to the AP.
