The IRS tech shop is back in hiring mode, after losing more than 40% of its workforce under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
At an IRS IT all-hands meeting earlier this month, Chief Information Officer Kaschit Pandya told staff that his office plans to hire up to 175 additional technical employees.<\/p>\n
According to a memo recapping the March 23 meeting, Pandya said his office is focused on \u201cfilling skill gaps in cloud, data, AI and infrastructure to support strategic initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
IRS IT is looking to increase staffing after permanently moving nearly 1,200 employees out of the organization last December.<\/p>\n
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Many, but not all, of those employees have been put on 120-day details to taxpayer services to handle frontline filing-season work. Aside from these temporary details, employees who have moved out of IRS IT have been given few details about what work they\u2019ll be doing for the agency in the long term.<\/p>\n
Human resources employees have also been reassigned to cover the frontline filing season work. In total, approximately 1,500 IRS employees are on 120-day temporary details.<\/p>\n
According to the memo obtained by Federal News Network, Pandya also addressed \u201cquestions about workload and staffing, explaining the approach to reprioritizing work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Government Accountability Office reported last week<\/a> that major staffing reductions at the IRS \u201ccould greatly affect its ability to use AI.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the agency\u2019s biggest users of AI, its Research, Applied Analytics and Statistics (RAAS) unit, lost more than 60 employees last year who worked on AI full-time or part-time. This office spent $28 million on AI-related work in fiscal 2025, and planned to spend another $32 million on AI work this fiscal year.<\/p>\n An IRS official in this office told GAO that RAAS may no longer deploy an AI model focused on prioritizing tax returns for audit because the program doesn\u2019t have staff to conduct the audits.<\/p>\n The IRS lost\u00a0more than a quarter of its total workforce<\/a>\u00a0last year through voluntary separation incentives and retirements. But its tech shop lost a disproportionate amount of its staffing.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n Pandya recently said at an industry conference in February that IRS IT lost about 40% of its employees<\/a> and nearly 80% of its leadership last year.<\/p>\n One former IRS IT employee on temporary detail to do filing season work, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation, said they are now in training to do the work of a GS-5 customer service representative, a significantly lower grade than the work they were previously doing.<\/p>\n Another individual familiar with the IRS staffing shakeup said employees on 120-day details are currently enrolled in eight hours of daily training for the next few months. These employees, the individual said, must remain on camera for the duration of these virtual training sessions, and if they turn off their cameras, they\u2019ll get a message to turn them back on.<\/p>\n \u201cThis whole experience has been so gut-wrenching. We honestly don\u2019t think they will stop at four months \u2014 because what\u2019s the point of training someone for four months to not have them do the work they were trained for,\u201d the individual said.<\/p>\n According to two IRS employees who attended the meeting, Pandya told IT employees not to expect the same grade in the next performance evaluation that they received last year, and that many may receive a three out of five or lower.<\/p>\n According to the readout memo, Pandya \u201cclarified changes in performance management\u201d during the all-hands meeting, \u201cemphasizing the need for outcome-based, measurable commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n Treasury prepares RIFs for financial crisis watchdog office<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Treasury Department is preparing for targeted layoffs at an office focused on monitoring the stability of the U.S. financial system.<\/p>\n Treasury is preparing to send reduction-in-force notices to employees at its Office of Financial Research. The office was created by Congress in the aftermath of the 2008 recession to avoid a similar economic crisis.<\/p>\n In an email obtained by Federal News Network, Treasury\u2019s Associate Chief Human Capital Officer Michael Wenzler told OFR staff that a \u201csignificant number of positions will be abolished and impacted employees will be placed, demoted, and\/or separated\u201d no later than May 15.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n \u201cThis is a general notice that the reorganization and impending RIF may impact you,\u201d Wenzler told employees in a March 10 email.<\/p>\n In compliance with governmentwide RIF procedures, Treasury employees facing RIF notices are eligible for \u201coutplacement program assistance,\u201d allowing them to compete for vacant positions the department isn\u2019t eliminating. That includes a Career Transition Assistance Plan, which gives RIF\u2019d employees priority for any positions within Treasury at or below their current level.<\/p>\n \u201cI would also encourage you to proactively look for open positions within Treasury,\u201d Wenzler wrote.<\/p>\n Employees were given until March 23 to accept a voluntary separation offer through the Deferred Resignation Program, as well as an opportunity to retire early.<\/p>\n