Smaller IRS staff could slow refunds and customer service

The passage of President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" introduced sweeping tax changes — including no tax on overtime or tips and an expanded child tax credit — that will show up in many taxpayers' refunds this filing season. The average refund is set to rise to $3,800 from $3,052 last year, in part because the IRS hasn't directed employers to change withholding, leaving the new provisions to appear in refunds.

A much smaller IRS will be working to get those checks out. The agency's workforce fell by 27% from January 2025 to December 2025, dropping from over 102,000 workers to around 74,000, and 22% of customer representatives left, the National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins wrote.

"The impact of these departures is not merely numeric," Collins' report said, noting that many departing employees were experienced workers whose institutional knowledge and technical expertise cannot easily be replaced.

United States

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