A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) highlights serious flaws in how the IRS handled the termination of thousands of probationary employees earlier this year. 

As part of a broader federal workforce reduction effort, the IRS issued termination notices in February and March 2025 to more than 7,300 employees still within their probationary periods. The letters cited performance concerns and “current mission needs” as grounds for dismissal. However, TIGTA found that the agency did not follow its own internal procedures and failed to consider individual performance records before acting.

The review revealed that over half of the affected employees had no performance rating on file,  largely because they were too new to have been evaluated. Among those with ratings, nearly all were marked as “Fully Successful” or higher, with some even receiving “Outstanding” evaluations. Despite this, all were given identical termination notices that reference poor performance. Several senior IRS officials reportedly refused to sign the notices, raising concerns that the reasoning did not match the facts. 

The speed of the process, just 29 days from employee identification to termination, appears to have contributed to errors. In some cases, workers deemed “mission critical” were mistakenly included and later had to be rehired. Court challenges quickly followed, resulting in the reinstatement of all terminated employees by May 2025, though many later opted to resign or participate in voluntary separation programs.