Bessent Replaces Acting IRS Commissioner in Musk Power Struggle

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appointed his deputy, Michael Faulkender, as the next acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service after reports the current leader of the agency, Gary Shapley, had been installed at the urging of Elon Musk without Bessent’s knowledge.

“Trust must be brought back to the IRS,” Bessent said in a post to X on Friday, calling Faulkender “the right man for the moment.”

Bessent said Shapley — who gained fame in conservative circles after claiming the Justice Department had stalled an investigation into whether former President Joe Biden’s son had underpaid his taxes — would remain “among my most senior advisors.” Joseph Ziegler, another IRS employee removed from the Hunter Biden case, will also be ensured a long-term senior government role, the Treasury Secretary said.

The move came hours after the New York Times reported that Bessent approached President Donald Trump to complain that Musk had gone around him to get Shapley appointed as the acting head of the agency.

Michael Faulkender, deputy US treasury secretary, during a Bloomberg Television interview outside the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, April 11, 2025. Faulkendersaid US President Donald Trump is looking for China to pull back on its tariff retaliation and come to the table to work out a new trade deal.

Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

The switch means that the IRS will now have its fifth acting commissioner since Trump took office less than 100 days ago — and its third in less than a week. The agency’s previous head, Melanie Krause, resigned after the Treasury Department agreed to provide taxpayer data to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilitate deportation efforts, despite longstanding privacy rules.

The upheaval comes as the IRS has taken center stage in Trump’s push to strip universities and non-profit groups he sees as political enemies of their tax-exempt status.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but when you see how badly they’ve acted and in other ways also, so we’ll, we’ll be looking at it very strongly, on the tax exempt status subject,” Trump told reporters on Thursday in the Oval Office.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, resigned in January shortly after Trump’s inauguration and was replaced by Doug O’Donnell, who stepped down one month later.

Faulkender previously led the Paycheck Protection Program in Trump’s first administration. He will remain in the position until Billy Long, a former member of the House of Representatives, is confirmed by the Senate.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Stephanie Lai in Washington at slai186@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Mario Parker at mparker22@bloomberg.net

Justin Sink, Wendy Benjaminson

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