IRS Watchdog Office Loses 15% of Workers Amid Wider Job Cuts

A watchdog responsible for monitoring the IRS has lost 15% of its workforce since October, a spokesperson for the agency said.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration had 800 employees at the start of the 2025 fiscal year. But after “natural attrition” and two rounds of a deferred resignation offer—an effort from the Trump administration to reduce government-wide staffing—about 680 employees remain, TIGTA said. The watchdog didn’t specify how many employees accepted the resignation offers.

President Donald Trump fired at least a dozen inspectors general in January, but TIGTA acting chief Heather M. Hill wasn’t among them.

• TIGTA provides oversight of the IRS, an agency grappling with its own staffing turmoil. Similar Trump-led initiatives are leading to the departure of about a quarter of IRS employees since January, according to TIGTA’s own report. The staffing cuts come as the IRS begins to implement the GOP’s newly signed tax-and-spending law.
• The watchdog, which is independent of the IRS, helps ensure that the agency isn’t leveraged for political purposes and that taxpayer data remains secure. The IRS staff cuts have threatened to erode data security, according to former and current IRS officials.