Billy Long out as IRS commissioner after less than two months

Billy Long ended his brief tenure as IRS commissioner Friday, posting on X that President Donald Trump will nominate him to be ambassador to Iceland.

“It is a(n) honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland,” Long posted Friday on X. “I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead!”

A Treasury representative said Friday that the department thanked Long “for his commitment to public service and the American people” and added that “a new candidate for commissioner will be announced at the appropriate time.”

The Senate confirmed Long as commissioner on June 12.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting IRS commissioner, sources familiar with the change said. The White House did not comment on Long’s departure, referring reporters to Long’s statements on X.

With his departure, Long became the shortest-serving confirmed IRS commissioner since the agency was created in 1862.

It wasn’t clear why Trump removed Long. In Long’s only public appearance before tax professionals, which came July 28 during the 2025 Tax Summit of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, he said that the 2026 filing season would start around Presidents Day, which is Feb. 16 next year.

That mid-February start date would have been later than recent years, when filing season opened in late January or early February.

In an email last week after Long’s statement, the IRS indicated it had not determined when filing season will begin. “The IRS looks forward to another successful tax filing season next year, and we will announce the timing of its opening in the regular course,” the IRS statement said.

Long mentioned filing season minutes after confirming his departure from the IRS. In a post on X, he referenced Martin Luther King Jr. Day rather than Presidents Day as the likely start and indicated he was in a meeting about the next filing season the same day as he left the IRS.

“Rest assured tax filing season will start at the customary time around MLK Day,” he wrote. “I was in an hour long meeting today on implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill(y). These folks are pros and know what they are doing.”

Long’s exit means the IRS will have its seventh, and probably eighth, acting or confirmed commissioner since January, when the previous confirmed commissioner, Danny Werfel, left. Four acting commissioners served — one as briefly as a few days — before Long was confirmed June 12. The leadership changes come as the IRS has cut 25,000 employees since February, or about 25% of its workforce.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Martha Waggoner at Martha.Waggoner@aicpa-cima.com.