Adviser Roles in IRS Legal Unit Hit by Trump Workforce Order

Three positions in the IRS’s legal arm are expected to be reclassified to be more easily fireable as part of a new executive order that’s reshaping the federal government, according to a person familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump last week signed an order giving federal agencies the option to re-categorize about 8,000 positions government-wide, stripping them of key job protections. About a dozen positions at the IRS were listed on a supporting document to the order. It’s unclear how many total people will be impacted.

At the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, the positions of senior legal adviser for regulatory affairs, the attorney adviser, and senior level counselor to the commissioner are set to be reclassified. Both the attorney adviser and senior level counselor to the commissioner positions are vacant, the person said.

While it’s a small fraction of positions that were anticipated to be in scope for reclassification, one of those positions has significant sway, especially in rulemaking.

The IRS didn’t have an immediate comment.

The senior legal adviser for regulatory affairs works almost exclusively with regulations, touching most of guidance projects that go through the Deputy Chief Counsel (Technical). After the passage of the GOP 2025 tax-and-spending law, the IRS was tasked with implementing dozens of regulatory projects, including some that were Trump’s campaign promises such as the tips and overtime tax breaks.

“Senior Legal Adviser for Regulatory Affairs is obviously a very important position—and should form a firewall against too much political interference in terms of getting to the correct legal answer in promulgating regulations,” said Nina Olson, former longtime National Taxpayer Advocate who’s now executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights.

A reclassification is also expected to make it harder to keep these workers, some of whom are career employees, and attract new talent to top advising positions.

The two empty positions, attorney adviser and senior level counselor to the commissioner, typically serve as advisers to political appointees and can help on a range of issues that help the agency mitigate risk.

Some administrations also won’t fill the IRS regulatory affairs role, said Dave Kautter, federal specialty tax leader for RSM US LLP. Kautter was assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy during the first Trump administration.

“It really varies from administration to administration,” Kautter said.

Two political appointees at the IRS require Senate confirmation: the commissioner and the chief counsel. Neither of those positions have a confirmed person in the role; the acting chief counsel job is being handled by Ken Kies, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax policy.