Over 6,000 IRS Employees Expected To Be Terminated

According to a source familiar with the agency’s plans, More than half of these employees — over 3,500 — are expected to be from just one division at the IRS. In an email obtained by CBS News and shared by an IRS employee a managers of the IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Division Wednesday, and it says that the affected SBSE employees will be notified Thursday by the IRS Human Capital Office.  The email, signed by SBSE commissioner Lia Colbert and SBSE deputy commissioner Maha Williams, says that “while details are still developing, we understand that over 3,500 SB/SE probationary hires will be terminated by the end of this week.” According to the email, the probationary workers who are expected to be fired “were not deemed as critical to filing season.” The layoffs are expected to take place a couple of weeks before the tax filing season reaches peak activity, in mid-March through mid-April. The New York Times was first to report that 6,000 IRS employees are expected to be cut. The IRS will be carrying out some of the highest numbers of mass terminations known so far at a department or agency — and these figures represent only a single department within the IRS. Managers in the IRS Large Business & International Division also received an email that asked them to come into the office Thursday and Friday “to support offboarding activities.” It did not specify a number of employees that could be terminated.