Filing taxes may get a little more difficult this year: Trump’s plan to cut IRS taxpayer advocate staff

The U.S. Office of the National Taxpayer Advocate is a federal agency that provides resources and support to millions of filers each year. It also delivers an annual report to Congress on the IRS’s performance, offering insights into the taxpayer experience.

However, the office is unlikely to avoid workforce cuts as President Donald Trump moves to restructure federal departments, including the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS.

According to The Hill, a Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed that reductions will take place to bring the agency to the “right size,” though specific numbers were not provided. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports that up to 25% of the agency’s 1,900 employees could lose their jobs.

This comes with less than a month left until the federal tax filing deadline

Most filers will be required to submit their state and federal income tax returns by April 15.

No timeline for the layoffs has been announced, but as taxpayers continue to file their returns, concerns are growing that these and other IRS staff reductions could delay refunds and limit support for filers with questions.

The reports that these cuts are coming, follow the Office of the National Taxpayer Advocate’s annual report to Congress, which ranks delays in the processing of returns as the second most substantial challenges faced by fillers.

The IRS burdens millions of taxpayers each year with issues related to return processing, including rejections of electronically filed returns, slow processing of paper returns, difficulty correcting errors after filing, the glacial pace for processing of amended returns, challenges obtaining information from their online accounts, and confusion responding to notices and letters.

National Taxpayer Advocate

The report also noted that many taxpayers “do not receive the quality experience that taxpayers and tax professionals need, leading to delays, frustration, and unnecessary costs.” If IRS agents on the frontlines are cut, the experience for filers could worsen, as the current staffing levels already led to poor results.

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