As the 2026 tax season begins, the AICPA is asking the IRS to plan for a possible government shutdown by keeping all employees working. In a letter dated Jan. 29 to Treasury Secretary and acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, the AICPA requested a plan to keep the entire IRS staff if funding runs out, warning that major furloughs could hurt tax administration at a sensitive time. 

 This request follows a significant drop in the IRS workforce, now about 74,000 employees after a 27% decrease in the past year, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate. The AICPA said that furloughs, reduced services, and possible technology problems “could prove to be detrimental to the success of the filing season currently underway and the effective and timely implementation of recent legislative changes,” wrote Cheri Freeh, chair of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee. 

 The group highlighted past shutdowns as warnings, such as the COVID-era lapse during an April filing season that caused long-lasting backlogs, and the 2019 shutdown that affected phone lines, payments, and case resolution. Referring to a recent Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report, the AICPA warned that taxpayers and practitioners “may experience significant harm and overwhelming challenges” if the IRS works with only part of its staff during filing season. 

 With new tax laws making 2026 returns more complicated, the AICPA said that processing returns and collecting revenue should remain essential government work, even if there is a shutdown. This would help prevent delays and problems that could last for years.