May 15, 2025 - IRS Cuts Will Impact 2024 Returns

Former Taxpayer Advocate: IRS Cuts Will Impact 2024 Returns

The post-tax season IRS workforce reductions reportedly being discussed as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) cost-cutting efforts would still impact 2024 returns, according to former National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson. There have been reports that the IRS must cut 20% of its staff by May 15, in addition to the 6,700 staff that have already been let go. While the cuts would likely happen after the April 15 filing deadline, Olson noted that roughly 20% of taxpayers file for extensions and that a “whole bunch” of timely returns will be frozen after the IRS finds problems the taxpayer must resolve.

Olson discussed the impact of the cuts during a March 24 appearance on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, where she said that between layoffs and buyouts, up to 50% of the IRS’s staff could eventually be cut. She explained that taxpayers must work with the IRS well beyond tax season and that the staffing cuts will make it difficult to get through to anyone on the phone to resolve their problems or have their correspondence processed in a timely manner. With the IRS’s move toward automation, more taxpayers will receive automatic notices but won’t be able to contact a person working for the agency to resolve them, she said.