The head of the IRS said he is stepping down just before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“After significant introspection and consultation with others, I’ve determined the best way to support a successful transition is to depart the IRS on January 20, 2025,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a note addressed to all IRS employees on Friday.
Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated at 12 p.m. ET on Jan. 20.
“While leaving a job you love is never easy, I take comfort in knowing that the civil servant leaders and employees at the IRS are the exact right team to effectively steward this organization forward until a new IRS Commissioner is confirmed,” Werfel said.
Werfel’s term began in March 2023 and was not slated to end until November 2027. Trump had indicated last year that he would nominate former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) to serve as his IRS commissioner, which is subject to Senate confirmation.
In his note to employees, Werfel indicated that he had wanted to serve out his full term.
“I have been touched by those who have reached out to me to share how they were hopeful that I could remain in the seat and continue the important work underway,” he wrote. “But as civil servants, we have a job to do, and that job is to now ensure a new Commissioner is set up for success.”
Werfel warned earlier this year that the IRS should not lose its new Congress-approved funding or it will have to reduce staffing levels that he says have improved tax service and reduced processing times. Under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS received about $80 billion over 10 years, although some of that money was clawed back in subsequent bills.
“And so if we don’t have the right staffing levels, the performance will backslide, and we will see inevitably slower processing delays and potential backlogs,” Werfel told reporters during a news conference on Jan. 10.
Trump has not publicly commented on Werfel’s announcement. Trump said Long is “respected by all,” when he announced the nomination of the a former auctioneer and a tax consultant to lead the agency.
The IRS is scheduled to launch this year’s tax filing season on Jan. 27, 2025.
Earlier this week, Trump announced he would set up an “External Revenue Service” that would collect tariff income and other revenue from foreign nations. He compared the move to the creation of the IRS.
“We will begin charging those that make money off of us with trade, and they will start paying,” Trump wrote on Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump has said he may impose significant tariffs on goods from certain nations, including Mexico and Canada, if they do not counter the flow of illegal immigration and fentanyl into the United States. He also said he would add an additional tariff against China for not curbing the production of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals.
