IRS to furlough nearly half its workforce due to government shutdown

The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it will furlough nearly half of its employees – around 34,000 workers – due to the ongoing government shutdown, making it significantly harder for US taxpayers to get assistance. In a statement on Wednesday, the IRS said that “due to the lapse in appropriations”, it will begin its furlough on 8 October for “everyone except already-identified excepted and exempt employees”. “Employee who are not exempt or excepted are furloughed and placed in a non-pay and non-duty status until further notice; however, all employees should plan to report to work for their next tour of duty,” the IRS said, adding that employees would be given up to four hours to close out work requirements and receive formal furlough notification. The furlough will leave only 53.6%, or 39,870 IRS employees, working as the government remains shut down. In the standard furlough letter provided to all affected employees, David Traynor, acting IRS human capital officer, confirmed that furloughed employees cannot work and will not be paid during the shutdown. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS employees, condemned the decision, with its president, Doreen Greenwald, saying on Wednesday: “Due to the government shutdown the American people lost access to many vital services provided by the IRS. “Expect increased wait times, backlogs and delays implementing tax law changes as the shutdown continues,” the statement continued. “Taxpayers around the country will now have a much harder time getting the assistance they need, just as they get ready to file their extension returns due next week.” The IRS’s decision to furlough its employees comes a day after a White House memo suggested that furloughed workers may not receive back pay, despite the 2019 law Trump signed during his first term, during the last government shutdown; the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (Gefta) ensures that government workers would be automatically paid after future shutdowns. In his letter, Traynor said that “employees must be compensated on the earliest date possible after the lapse ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates”.