IRS Crypto Unit Leaders Depart as Veteran Tapped to Take Over

Longtime IRS official Trish Turner will now lead the agency’s digital assets unit with the exit of two crypto leads, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The change comes as Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee and Seth Wilks—two private-sector leaders who were brought on to help the IRS build up its enforcement and reporting of digital assets—leave the agency.

The IRS started paying closer attention to taxpayers’ crypto stash in recent years, stepping up oversight with more audits and criminal cases. It also has tried to regulate the industry with crypto broker rules that are facing fierce pushback from industry for being overly broad.

Both co-led the Office of Digital Assets. Mukherjee was executive director of compliance and implementation and had been with the IRS a little over a year. Wilks, executive director of digital asset strategy and development, also was with the agency for over a year and announced his exit on Linkedin. Mukherjee separately confirmed his decision to Bloomberg Tax.

• Turner has been with the IRS for over two decades and most recently was a senior adviser within the Digital Assets office.
• The second Trump administration is expected to be more crypto-friendly, and has started asking industry broadly which regulations agencies should pull back.
• Over 23,000 IRS employees signaled they wanted to leave the agency after the Trump administration again offered its deferred resignation offer.