{"id":116228,"date":"2025-04-23T16:54:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T00:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/04\/23\/why-the-irs-went-through-4-acting-commissioners-in-3-months\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T16:54:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T00:54:53","slug":"why-the-irs-went-through-4-acting-commissioners-in-3-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/04\/23\/why-the-irs-went-through-4-acting-commissioners-in-3-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Why The IRS Went Through 4 Acting Commissioners In 3 Months"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the first day of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, then IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel resigned. IRS commissioners by law serve five-year terms although customarily they step down sometime during their fourth year. It is also common for IRS commissioners to stay on when a new president takes office. So Werfel\u2019s resignation is unusual.<\/p>\n

President Trump\u2019s pick to replace Werfel is Billy Long, a former congressman from Missouri. But he has not yet received Senate confirmation nor is there a confirmation hearing scheduled. Until then, an acting IRS commissioner is selected.<\/p>\n

But since Werfel\u2019s resignation, there have been four acting commissioners in three months.<\/p>\n

The first was Douglas O\u2019Donnell, a 40-year IRS veteran. He previously served as acting commissioner from November 2022 until March 2023, filling in after former Commissioner Charles Rettig stepped down until Werfel\u2019s confirmation. During his short tenure, the IRS laid off thousands of workers, mostly new hires. Furthermore, he had to deal with the Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s (DOGE) demands to obtain access to IRS data systems that may include sensitive taxpayer information. O\u2019Donnell retired from the IRS on February 28, 2025.<\/p>\n

Replacing O\u2019Donnell was Melanie Krause who was the IRS\u2019s Chief Operating Officer. Krause served as acting commissioner until April 8, 2025. Krause resigned shortly after the IRS reached an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security where the IRS would share taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is believed that the information would be used to find people for deportation purposes. Krause\u2019s decision to resign was also influenced by the future direction of the agency in addition to the resignation of other senior officials at the IRS.<\/p>\n

Gary Shapley replaced O\u2019Donnell as acting commissioner on April 16, 2025. Shapley spent most of his career working at the IRS\u2019s criminal investigation division. But he was better known<\/a> for testifying before Congress about the Hunter Biden tax investigation. His appointment was endorsed by Elon Musk. But a few days later, his appointment was rescinded after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained that Shapley\u2019s appointment was made without his knowledge. But despite his removal, Shapley will remain as a senior advisor.<\/p>\n

Lastly, Shapley was replaced by Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender who is the current acting commissioner. Faulkender was Bessent\u2019s choice for the role. During Trump\u2019s first term, he appointed Faulkender to be the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy.<\/p>\n

The IRS commissioner is a senior management position, so he or she will rarely be in contact with an average IRS employee. But every IRS employee will wonder whether the new commissioner will support President Trump and DOGE\u2019s efforts to cut IRS staff numbers. Or will he or she try to convince the president to reconsider his strategy?<\/p>\n

And how is the public reacting to this? Half of the population sees this as an example of Trump\u2019s incompetence or as a sign that the experienced IRS leadership has no confidence in the direction the agency is going. Some taxpayers may wonder whether they can be more aggressive and creative when preparing their tax returns.<\/p>\n

Every tax professional worth their salt will tell opportunistic taxpayers not to falsify their tax returns and that the IRS can be surprisingly resourceful. If their returns are selected for audit, the lack of staff can likely prolong their audit or result in getting an auditor who is overworked.<\/p>\n

So how long will Faulkender last? He is not part of the old guard, has worked with Trump before, and has the Treasury Secretary\u2019s blessing. So it is probable that he will remain in the position until a permanent commissioner is selected.<\/p>\n

The new acting commissioner will have a lot of work to do. He or she will oversee one of the IRS\u2019s largest reductions in force in the agency\u2019s history and will have to decide where to allocate funding and resources. Also, the commissioner may be involved in controversial matters. For example, Trump recently suggested that the IRS revoke Harvard University\u2019s tax-exempt status because he thinks the university is not doing enough to address campus antisemitism. The commissioner will have to assure the public that the IRS is fair and will not be politically weaponized, despite the president\u2019s occasional social media posts that suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n

\n

Steven Chung is a tax attorney in Los Angeles, California. He helps people with basic tax planning and resolve tax disputes. He is also sympathetic to people with large student loans. He can be reached via email at <\/strong><\/em>stevenchungatl@gmail.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Or you can connect with him on Twitter (<\/strong><\/em>@stevenchung<\/em><\/strong><\/a>) and connect with him on\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>LinkedIn<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The post Why The IRS Went Through 4 Acting Commissioners In 3 Months<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the first day of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, then IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel resigned. IRS commissioners by law serve five-year terms although customarily they step down sometime during their fourth year. It is also common for IRS commissioners to stay on when a new president takes office. So Werfel\u2019s resignation is unusual.<\/p>\n

President Trump\u2019s pick to replace Werfel is Billy Long, a former congressman from Missouri. But he has not yet received Senate confirmation nor is there a confirmation hearing scheduled. Until then, an acting IRS commissioner is selected.<\/p>\n

But since Werfel\u2019s resignation, there have been four acting commissioners in three months.<\/p>\n

The first was Douglas O\u2019Donnell, a 40-year IRS veteran. He previously served as acting commissioner from November 2022 until March 2023, filling in after former Commissioner Charles Rettig stepped down until Werfel\u2019s confirmation. During his short tenure, the IRS laid off thousands of workers, mostly new hires. Furthermore, he had to deal with the Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s (DOGE) demands to obtain access to IRS data systems that may include sensitive taxpayer information. O\u2019Donnell retired from the IRS on February 28, 2025.<\/p>\n

Replacing O\u2019Donnell was Melanie Krause who was the IRS\u2019s Chief Operating Officer. Krause served as acting commissioner until April 8, 2025. Krause resigned shortly after the IRS reached an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security where the IRS would share taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is believed that the information would be used to find people for deportation purposes. Krause\u2019s decision to resign was also influenced by the future direction of the agency in addition to the resignation of other senior officials at the IRS.<\/p>\n

Gary Shapley replaced O\u2019Donnell as acting commissioner on April 16, 2025. Shapley spent most of his career working at the IRS\u2019s criminal investigation division. But he was better known<\/a> for testifying before Congress about the Hunter Biden tax investigation. His appointment was endorsed by Elon Musk. But a few days later, his appointment was rescinded after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained that Shapley\u2019s appointment was made without his knowledge. But despite his removal, Shapley will remain as a senior advisor.<\/p>\n

Lastly, Shapley was replaced by Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender who is the current acting commissioner. Faulkender was Bessent\u2019s choice for the role. During Trump\u2019s first term, he appointed Faulkender to be the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy.<\/p>\n

The IRS commissioner is a senior management position, so he or she will rarely be in contact with an average IRS employee. But every IRS employee will wonder whether the new commissioner will support President Trump and DOGE\u2019s efforts to cut IRS staff numbers. Or will he or she try to convince the president to reconsider his strategy?<\/p>\n

And how is the public reacting to this? Half of the population sees this as an example of Trump\u2019s incompetence or as a sign that the experienced IRS leadership has no confidence in the direction the agency is going. Some taxpayers may wonder whether they can be more aggressive and creative when preparing their tax returns.<\/p>\n

Every tax professional worth their salt will tell opportunistic taxpayers not to falsify their tax returns and that the IRS can be surprisingly resourceful. If their returns are selected for audit, the lack of staff can likely prolong their audit or result in getting an auditor who is overworked.<\/p>\n

So how long will Faulkender last? He is not part of the old guard, has worked with Trump before, and has the Treasury Secretary\u2019s blessing. So it is probable that he will remain in the position until a permanent commissioner is selected.<\/p>\n

The new acting commissioner will have a lot of work to do. He or she will oversee one of the IRS\u2019s largest reductions in force in the agency\u2019s history and will have to decide where to allocate funding and resources. Also, the commissioner may be involved in controversial matters. For example, Trump recently suggested that the IRS revoke Harvard University\u2019s tax-exempt status because he thinks the university is not doing enough to address campus antisemitism. The commissioner will have to assure the public that the IRS is fair and will not be politically weaponized, despite the president\u2019s occasional social media posts that suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n

\n

Steven Chung is a tax attorney in Los Angeles, California. He helps people with basic tax planning and resolve tax disputes. He is also sympathetic to people with large student loans. He can be reached via email at <\/strong><\/em>stevenchungatl@gmail.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Or you can connect with him on Twitter (<\/strong><\/em>@stevenchung<\/em><\/strong><\/a>) and connect with him on\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>LinkedIn<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The post Why The IRS Went Through 4 Acting Commissioners In 3 Months<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the first day of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, then IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel resigned. IRS commissioners by law serve five-year terms although customarily they step down sometime during their fourth year. It is also common for IRS commissioners to stay on when a new president takes office. So Werfel\u2019s resignation is unusual. President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":116229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lateral-hiring-lateral-partner-departure-layoffs-goodbye-farewell-DtCbbe.jpeg?fit=1698%2C1131&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}