With the start of the next tax filing season just months away, former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel expressed concern over the now-depleted agency’s readiness, especially on the heels of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), and advocated for a well-funded IRS with a clear leadership structure and direction.
Tax Season Readiness at Risk
The keynote speaker at the Tax Trends Summit co-hosted by the American Bar Association’s Tax Section and Tax Analysts, Werfel said this time of year is a critical period for the IRS to prepare ahead of the filing season. Werfel likened the process to “opening night on Broadway.”
The work involves updating forms, instructions, and technology to reflect a “higher than average number of changes” in the Tax Code this time around due to the July 4 enactment of the OBBBA, which featured several tax provisions beyond extensions to expiring portions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law during President Trump’s first term in 2017.
These preparations have been stymied by the current government shutdown, IRS furloughs, and reductions to the agency’s overall workforce. Werfel, who was serving as acting commissioner during the 2013 shutdown that led to the decision to delay tax season by a week, called the mounting disruptions “a big deal” for taxpayers expecting refunds.
‘No Game Without the Refs’
Addressing the general public’s often-negative perception of the agency, Werfel compared the IRS to National Football League referees. “They get the call wrong, and 70,000 people stand up and boo. They get the call right, 70,000 people stand up and boo,” he said. While no one throws a parade for the referees after the Super Bowl, “there’s no game without the refs. You just have chaos.” A weakened IRS, he argued, does not lead to lower taxes for compliant taxpayers but instead creates “more stress” and only benefits bad actors.
Frustration understandably builds for taxpayers waiting on hold for lengthy amounts of time to reach a live service representative. And when a caller does get through, the question then becomes whether the representative has the tools they need to quickly access the taxpayer’s account and the capacity to resolve their issues, Werfel illustrated.
On the business front, he affirmed that corporations enjoy “tax cuts,” but not in exchange for “tax chaos.” An unstable and unpredictable tax system discourages investment, he said, likening it to highway speed enforcement. While Congress can change the ‘speed limit,’ the IRS must be able to enforce it. If there are no “sheriffs policing the speed limit,” the resulting chaos makes it impossible for businesses to plan and build effectively.
Now What?
Werfel stepped down as commissioner on the day of President Trump’s inauguration in January after Trump announced his intention to give the job to former Congressman Billy Long, who would go on to be one of seven individuals to briefly lead the IRS this year. An audience member asked Werfel to shed light on his decision to vacate the position even though he was less than halfway into his five-year term.
Werfel explained that after the Billy Long announcement, he sought guidance from incoming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on how to facilitate the transition. “We tried to reach out to him, but we never could,” Werfel recounted. “I was still waiting for the phone to ring, and that’s when I realized that his not getting back to me was my answer.”
He concluded that this leadership vacuum creates an “unhealthy governance structure” where it is unclear who has the authority to make critical decisions, causing progress to stall. Werfel ultimately framed the issue as a lack of a clear, articulated plan for the agency’s future, contrasting the current uncertainty with the modernization plan his team issued. The former commissioner noted the plan was met at the time with criticism for lacking in specifics.
He felt the plan “already had a ton of detail. But if they wanted more detail … let’s get them the detail they need.” In contrast, “[we] still don’t have a modernization plan from” the Trump administration. “I want to see the new vision.”
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