IRS Layoffs Threaten Tax Season Delays

Mar 12, 2025 | GTM Blog, Household Payroll & Taxes, Tax Season

Due to recent staff layoffs at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), your tax return and other IRS requests could experience significant delays this filing season.

The staffing shakeup stems from a broader Trump Administration initiative to reduce federal spending.

However, the change has experts worried about the impact of making such a move during peak tax season. In a recent TIME.com article, Michael Kaercher, Deputy Director of the Tax Law Center at NYU Law, warns, “If you fire thousands of IRS employees broadly during the tax season, it’s hard to do that in a way that doesn’t pose risks to the filing season.”

The roughly 7,000 layoffs will have a major impact on the ability of taxpayers to receive resolutions on current tax-based requests, such as civil penalty abatement requests or amended returns. It will likely become increasingly difficult to even connect with an IRS agent via phone or email.

Lauren Bird-Oehler, Tax Manager at GTM, reacted to the news by encouraging clients to stay proactive when dealing with the IRS, “We are seeing very slow response times from the IRS, oftentimes over a year. With the recent changes to staffing at the agency, we do expect resolution times to significantly increase. As a result, it is especially important to provide GTM with any subsequent IRS notices to ensure that we request holds on accounts to accommodate for the additional processing times”

GTM will continue to monitor the situation with the IRS and keep clients updated on any critical tax information.

If you need to get your household employer taxes in order, now is the time to do so. Call us at (800) 929-9213 for a complimentary, no-obligation consultation with a household employment expert. Or schedule time with us at your convenience.