The IRS is escalating its reduction-in-force (RIF) efforts by offering three voluntary separation programs as it braces for up to a 25% staffing cut.

Adding to the turmoil, Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause plans to step down after being bypassed in a sensitive agreement to share taxpayer data with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She would be the third IRS leader to depart since January, The Washington Post reports. 

According to Accounting Today, the agency rolled out the Treasury Deferred Resignation Program 2.0 (TDRP), a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) and a Voluntary Early Retirement Application (VERA) option to encourage departures. 

Journal of Accountancy reports that TDRP 2.0 offers paid administrative leave through Sept. 30, while the VSIP requires separation by May 31 but does not include leave. Eligible employees under either can pair their exit with early retirement via VERA if they meet federal service benchmarks. These programs arrive as the IRS faces mounting internal upheaval, including last week’s abrupt layoff of 130 staffers in the Office of Civil Rights and Compliance. 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has paused a California ruling ordering the rehiring of 16,000 federal workers, complicating the IRS’s earlier pledge to reinstate, 7,000 probationary employees by April 14, Accounting Today reports.