On Wednesday, October 8, 2025, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) initiated one of its most sweeping workforce reductions in recent memory, furloughing more than 34,000 employees—nearly half of its remaining staff—amid a protracted federal government shutdown. The sudden move, which comes just a week before the crucial October 15 tax filing extension deadline, has left taxpayers and IRS employees alike grappling with confusion, delays, and a growing sense of unease about the agency’s ability to fulfill its duties.
The shutdown, now entering its second week, was triggered after President Trump and Congress failed to reach an agreement on funding federal operations. According to CNN and CNBC, the IRS initially planned to keep its entire workforce on the job using funds from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, but that strategy was only viable for the first five business days of the shutdown. With no resolution in sight, the agency was forced to activate a new contingency plan, slicing its active workforce to just under 40,000 employees—about 53.6% of its staff—while shuttering most operations nationwide.
The impact is immediate, and the timing could hardly be worse. As Maria Ramos, president of the National Treasury Employees Union’s Austin, Texas, chapter, explained to CNN, “Tax returns will be arriving, but there will be no one there to process them.” This concern is echoed by union leaders across the country, who warn that taxpayers should brace for longer hold times on IRS phone lines, more dropped calls, and significant delays in processing payments and refunds. Gibson Jones, president of the union’s Memphis chapter, told CNN that the “vast majority” of workers in his region were furloughed, leaving only “very limited skeleton crews” across IRS business units.
Shannon Ellis, president of the union’s Kansas City chapter, described the atmosphere as one of “lots of confusion” as employees received conflicting notifications about their status. An emergency notification system sent out a recorded message instructing staff that, as of October 8, they were considered furloughed unless told otherwise by a manager. However, managers soon began calling employees to tell them to “ignore that message” and “keep working as usual.” Even late into the afternoon, many workers still did not know whether they were expected to report for duty or stay home, Ellis told CNN.
The confusion was compounded by the IRS’s updated contingency plan, which stated that the current staffing levels could remain in effect through April 2026, but also suggested that the plan could change again in just five days. Employees classified as “exempt” will continue to work and receive pay, though union leaders say it’s unclear where those funds are coming from. “There’s no rhyme or reason to who’s being told they’re furloughed and who’s not,” Jones said, adding that the unions have been “completely cut out of this” round of decision-making.
For many IRS employees, the situation is especially galling because those performing critical tasks—such as opening and scanning mailed tax returns and payments—were furloughed this time, even though they had been considered essential in previous shutdowns. “To my knowledge, all of those people were furloughed,” Ellis said. “We were already short-staffed after months of resignations and layoffs. Now this.”
The IRS’s workforce has been shrinking for months, with the agency starting 2025 with about 100,000 employees, only to be whittled down to roughly 74,000 by October due to resignations, layoffs, and now the mass furloughs. Earlier in the year, the IRS underwent significant layoffs, reducing its workforce from around 100,000 to approximately 75,000 employees by the end of 2024, as reported by CNBC and Straight Arrow News. The current cuts represent yet another blow to the agency’s capacity.
The stakes are high, not just for IRS employees but for millions of taxpayers. The agency is in the midst of implementing dozens of tax law changes contained in the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, many of which take effect this year. Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, warned that the combination of fewer staff and new regulations could lead to “growing backlogs and delays in implementing tax law changes, especially with tax extension returns due soon.”
Most IRS operations are now closed, with only a core group of employees retained to handle the most essential taxpayer services. According to the agency’s contingency plan, those who remain on the job include customer service representatives, tax examiners, revenue agents, and local taxpayer advocates. However, the specific roles of many retained employees remain unclear, and significant activities—such as responding to taxpayer questions outside of the filing season and non-automated collections—have ceased altogether.
For those still working, the situation is far from straightforward. In Atlanta, Denise Wells-Gomez, local union chapter president, said employees received “conflicting guidance from managers about whether essential workers could take scheduled leave or medical time off.” Internal messages instructed staff that any absence, even for surgeries, would be treated as AWOL (absent without leave), with the threat of termination. Yet, during a staff meeting, the office director appeared unaware of these strict instructions and clarified that leave could still be granted, provided it was approved by a manager. Despite this, employees continued to receive messages that “no exceptions” would be allowed.
The IRS has assured both furloughed and working employees that they will receive back pay once the shutdown ends, despite earlier warnings from the administration that no pay was guaranteed during a shutdown. In a memo to employees, David Traynor, the acting human capital officer at the IRS, clarified that furloughed workers would be in “non-pay, non-duty status” and are prohibited by law from working, even voluntarily.
For many, the shutdown has not only created financial strain but also wasted time and resources. Ramos, who was among those furloughed Wednesday, described how she drove an hour and a half in a carpool to the IRS office, waited around for four hours, and was then told to go home. “At a time when we’re not going to be getting paid, people could’ve used that gas money,” she told CNN. “That was time wasted and money spent that didn’t need to be spent just to sit around for four hours and find out you were furloughed. In past shutdowns, we knew that information in advance.”
As the shutdown drags on, the IRS’s ability to process tax returns, respond to taxpayer inquiries, and carry out enforcement activities is severely compromised. Taxpayers with looming deadlines and questions are left waiting, while the agency’s remaining staff struggle to keep up with a mounting backlog. Greenwald called on the administration and Congress to resolve the shutdown promptly to restore vital services, but for now, uncertainty reigns for both the IRS and the millions of Americans who depend on it.
With the October 15 tax extension deadline fast approaching and no end to the shutdown in sight, the IRS’s predicament serves as a stark reminder of how political impasses in Washington can have real and immediate consequences for everyday Americans.
