The Internal Revenue Service is under pressure from a Trump administration that’s seeking to reduce its workforce and expand who can access sensitive taxpayer information.
Employees have reportedly been offered delayed buyouts for after tax season and might also face layoffs. At the same time, the new Department of Government Efficiency is placing at least one employee at the agency . The White House is defending the practice, saying it’s necessary to reduce “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden wrote to the IRS acting commissioner on Monday over concerns about DOGE accessing taxpayer information.
The senators wrote the White House is pressuring the IRS to agree to a memo that would give software engineers working for DOGE access to the IRS system. They said it raises “serious concerns that Elon Musk and his associates are seeking to weaponize government databases containing private bank records and other confidential information to target American citizens and businesses as part of a political agenda.”
One local IRS employee, who spoke with GBH News on the condition of anonymity out of fear of being fired, addressed the multitude of issues employees are facing, and how taxpayers could be impacted.
“I think they want to replace us, because there’s actually no need for them to be in this system,” he said. “We already do it. We already do the enforcement. We already do the review. There is no reason for them to be in this system — none — from a fraud, waste and abuse standpoint.”
The individual, who works in Massachusetts, said the agency’s Integrated Data Retrieval System is so complex that it takes training and years of practice to learn. DOGE employees might soon be accessing the system, but they won’t understand it, he said.
“Elon Musk wouldn’t even understand it — it’s a skill you learn after years of practice,” the employee said. “It’s like looking at a computer screen from the 1980s where it’s just a bunch of numbers on lines. That’s what it looks like.”
The IRS has strict protocols for accessing data by its employees. Some of the taxpayer data is sensitive, including Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and addresses.
The local employee said the agency’s Human Resources Division has repeatedly sent emails offering buyouts without actual severance language.
A union representing some Massachusetts IRS employees is advising them — especially probationary employees — to download their own copies of their employment records because “circumstances are rapidly evolving” and “no one knows exactly what may come next.”
“We understand that many of you may be feeling fear and trepidation about what’s ahead,” wrote NTEU Chapter 23 on its Facebook page. “Please know that we are in this together and are working diligently to get accurate and timely information.”
The employee said that less staff won’t mean less audits — it’ll just mean a computer will perform them, with no human to pick up the phone and deal with the issues that arise.
‘“There’s a lot of times where I’m actually helping the taxpayer being like, ‘No, you actually don’t owe this money. This is the reason why we fixed it. I fixed it on this side — and I’m telling you that instead of owing $10,000, you actually owe zero,’” he said.
Another outcome, staff said, is that fraud could go up without a human reporting to entities like prosecutors or attorneys general.
Neither the IRS nor the Massachusetts attorney general’s office responded to requests for comment.
