The IRS shared that despite a partial government shutdown, all employees will continue working this week.
The agency’s employee emergency news webpage indicated, as of January 30, that all employees are exempt from furlough through February 7. It directs IRS employees to “report to work on their regular schedules.”
The IRS’ January 30 lapsed funding plan, likewise, specifies that 100% of the agency’s 74,942 staff members will continue working through February 7. Their compensation will be covered by supplemental funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
No Filing Season Shutdown Yet
The agency just kicked off the 2026 tax filing season on January 26. Policy experts – as well as the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and National Taxpayer Advocate – have expressed concerns about how the diminished agency will perform this season. Among the chief concerns are the IRS’ ability to tackle return backlogs and respond to customer service needs.
As a mid-filing season shutdown looked inevitable, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) pushed the IRS to retain 100% of its employees. The AICPA notes, in its January 29 letter, that the IRS has only shut down once before during an April filing season – in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “[T]he IRS’s inventory levels have still not recovered from the pandemic over five years later,” writes the AICPA.
Funding Package Moving Through Congress
The Senate passed a package to fund Treasury and several other agencies on Friday, with a 71-29 vote. The package includes a two-week funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security, along with annual funding for other agencies.
The package would provide the IRS with fiscal year 2026 funding of $3 billion for taxpayer services, nearly $5 billion for enforcement, and $3.16 billion for technology and operations. It also would rescind $11.66 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding.
The funding measure is now back before the House for consideration of Senate amendments – none of which impact IRS funding. The Rules Committee was set to consider the package Monday at 4:00 p.m., and the bill is expected to reach the House floor as soon as Tuesday.
Take your tax and accounting research to the next level with Checkpoint Edge and CoCounsel. Get instant access to AI-assisted research, expert-approved answers, and cutting-edge tools like Advisory Maps and State Charts. Try it today and transform the way you work! Subscribe now and discover a smarter way to find answers.
