According to Bloomberg Tax, the IRS has reinstated some select employees who were furloughed amid the current government shutdown. The move comes as the tax agency prepares for the upcoming filing season..
Roughly 112 workers who were placed on furlough have returned to work. Similar recalls are occurring throughout other federal agencies. This is based on a contingency plan updated Oct. 18 but released Nov. 6.
Under the updated plan, the IRS has 39,982 workers exempt from furlough, which increased from 39,870. The IRS has a total of 74,299 workers, Bloomberg Tax reported.
The reinstated workers were mostly focused in the chief counsel and chief financial officer units. In terms of the tax agency's legal department, 45 employees were brought back while 31 workers were reinstated in the finance office, Bloomberg Tax said.
A week into the government shutdown, close to half of the IRS was placed on furlough. However, those whose work involves the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) implementation, tax filing season, and IT were retained. The shutdown has been going on for over a month. Last week, it became the longest shutdown in the country's history.
The move to bring back more workers is happening as the IRS is in a crucial preparation stage for the tax filing season. According to Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy Ken Kies on Oct. 22, there is a plan that is in place for when workers return to work to get caught up with "what has slipped.”
Previously, on Oct. 20, IRS recalled 45 lawyers in the Office of Chief Counsel who work on drafting OBBBA, Kies noted.
Simultaneously, the Trump administration is trying to let go of over 1,000 additional IRS employees in the midst of the government shutdown.
During the shutdown's first week, the IRS kept all employees working utilizing the funds from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.