Amid ongoing budget cuts and mass layoffs, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has announced that several Internal Revenue Service office buildings have already been closed.
Last week, the BBC reported that President Donald Trump’s administration would be cutting around 6,000 employees from the agency.
Newsweek has reached out to the IRS via email outside of regular office hours, and DOGE via its social media channels for comment.
Why It Matters
As the country heads into tax season, many are concerned that dismissing IRS employees could create difficulties for average Americans filing their returns, while also questioning the rationale of reducing staff at one of the most revenue-generating government agencies under the guise of efficiency and cost-cutting.
While the office closures follow the widespread layoffs announced by DOGE, these may also create challenges for the agency in securing space for its now permanently in-office staff.
What To Know
The list below is based on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts,” a running tally of actions taken by the body, last updated on February 24. It shows the IRS national offices that have been closed alongside the cost of the annual lease on the building.
Lowell, Massachusetts
Annual cost: $1,189,592, assuming a five-year continuation of the lease.
Hilo, Hawaii
Annual cost: $70,396.
Brattleboro, Vermont
Annual cost: $41,238.
Salem, Oregon
Annual cost: $262,927
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Annual cost: $52,743
Bend, Oregon
Annual cost: $192,066
Sioux City, Iowa
Annual cost: $104,186
Beaumont, Texas
Annual cost: $115,076
Knoxville, Tennessee
Annual cost : $69,357
What People Are Saying
Former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen expressed doubts over DOGE’s desire to make all government employees work from an office, telling trade news site Tax Notes: “It’s possible bringing everyone in could present something of a space challenge since, as noted, a reasonable number of employees were working remotely long before COVID.”
He added that the agency has “always allowed certain classes of employees to work from home, with good success.”
On February 13, Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden posted to X, formerly Twitter: “My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS. That means [department chief Elon] Musk’s henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America. And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason.”
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
“For every $1 that the IRS spends on high-end enforcement activity, the agency collects $12 in uncollected taxes,” Natasha Sarin, a professor at Yale Law School and former White House tax policy adviser, told NPR.
“Nearly 200 million Americans are in the process of completing their tax returns. We urge caution in initiating major changes to IRS operations during the filing season,” several former IRS commissioners wrote in a recent op-ed for The New York Times.
“But even after filing season ends, we believe—and we believe that successful chief executives across the country would concur—that making drastic cuts to accounts receivable as a way to improve cost efficiency just doesn’t add up.”
Last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News that Trump’s goal “was to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay,” meaning funding government spending via tariffs rather than income taxes.
During his inauguration speech, President Donald Trump said: “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”
Kimberly Clausing, economist and professor of tax law and policy at the UCLA School of Law, previously told Newsweek: “Abolishing the IRS makes no sense for a modern country that would like to collect some income tax revenue and have a fair and well-functioning tax system to help fund public services.”
What Happens Next?
DOGE and the Trump administration are reportedly planning to close many more IRS offices, as well as those used by other government agencies as part of their plan to trim the federal budget.
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