The order has rankled union leaders, who have gone on to characterize the move as a “bait-and-switch,” affecting Internal Revenue Service employees who accepted a buyout offer from the Trump administration and were instructed to continue reporting to work well beyond the typical tax filing deadline, until May 15, 2025.
Background on the buyout offer
The Trump administration, through the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, offered a buyout program in order to shed federal employees. As of February 6, 2025, about 40,000 federal employees or about 2% of the federal workforce has taken the buyout offer, well below the 10% reduction the administration had been seeking, and that raises the possibility of layoffs later.
IRS employees deemed essential
While IRS employees signed up for the buyout deal, some workers were informed that their services during the tax filing season were quite essential and may need to remain working until May 15th. They comprised most workers from Taxpayer Services, Information Technology, and Taxpayer Advocate Service. Collectively, the departments make up roughly half of the IRS’s workforce comprising 100,000.
Union’s reaction
Doreen Greenwald, the national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, called the administration’s action “outrageous.” “Not only is this a clear case of bait-and-switch—they were originally told they would be paid to not work through Sept. 30—but it proves the terms of OPM’s so-called offer are unreliable and cannot be trusted,” she said.
Greenwald continued to drive the point home about how crucial IRS employees are: “By requiring IRS employees to stay on the job longer than promised, the administration is proving what NTEU has been saying all along: IRS employees are essential and without them, the jobs that the American people depend upon will not get done.”
Impact on the IRS and taxpayers
The IRS is under a hiring freeze, which was part of a broader governmentwide freeze called by President Trump on Inauguration Day. A result of the freeze is rescinding job offers to new employees who are supposed to start soon.
That some staff will remain at work till May 15, shows how serious the job is, especially at the peak of filing tax. Included among such tasks termed essential to the mission of the agency are: responding to taxpayer inquiries, processing returns, and giving refunds. This extension allows for continuity of these vital services during the filing season.
Taxpayer information access
In a related matter, Democrats on Capitol Hill are objecting to the administration’s approval allowing confidential taxpayer information to be handed over to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency-or DOGE, led by Elon Musk. Led by Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, members are writing to US Department of the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on concerns about possible unauthorized access to sensitive taxpayer information that will impact the filing season for 2025.
