AICPA: Executive order shouldn’t affect IRS tax season hiring

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump regarding IRS hiring should not affect the use of seasonal employees for the tax filing season, an AICPA vice president said Tuesday.

The IRS likely has already hired and trained those employees to work January through May, Melanie Lauridsen, the AICPA’s vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy, said in a LinkedIn post. In addition, the order gives agencies discretion to reallocate workers “to meet the highest priority needs [and] to maintain essential services.”

Tax filing season opens Monday.

The hiring freeze in the executive order merely maintains the freeze that has been in effect since December, when the IRS lost $20 billion in a continuing resolution that Congress passed to keep the government funded, Lauridsen said.

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order to freeze the hiring of federal civilian employees throughout the executive branch, with some exceptions. The order expires after several federal agencies submit a plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce, except for the IRS. The hiring freeze remains in effect at the IRS until the Treasury secretary, in consultation with others, determines that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze.

Treasury will release guidance after it reviews the executive order, which is required before it is implemented, Lauridsen said.

A regulatory freeze is typical when a new administration takes over, Lauridsen said.

A separate executive order directs government agencies to halt the sending of any new regulations to the Federal Register. The order also requests consideration for a 60-day delay in implementation, but it is not mandatory, Lauridsen said.

The IRS will comment on a case-by-case basis for regulation; so far, no changes have been made, she said.

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