Days before the 2026 tax filing season opens, Internal Revenue Service chief executive officer Frank Bisignano announced a sweeping leadership shake-up Tuesday, saying the moves are meant to stabilize an agency facing deep staff cuts and complex new tax rules.
New Leadership Team Targets Tax Season Strain
As per an Associated Press report, in a letter to the IRS’s roughly 74,000 employees, Bisignano outlined a reorganization that puts several high-profile figures into senior roles.
Whistleblower Gary Shapley will become deputy chief of Criminal Investigation, while Jarod Koopman will replace retiring CI chief Guy Ficco and also serve as chief tax compliance officer. Joseph Ziegler, another Hunter Biden whistleblower, will lead internal consulting. Bisignano said he is “confident that with this new team in place, the IRS is well-prepared to deliver a successful tax filing season for the American public.”
Shrinking Workforce Faces Bigger Tax Filing Demands
The announcement comes as the IRS prepares for the filing season to start Jan. 26 and expects to process about 164 million individual income tax returns, similar to last year. The agency’s FY 2024 Data Book shows employees handled more than 266 million returns and other forms and about 161 million individual returns, while issuing 117.6 million refunds totaling nearly $491 billion. Last year’s average refund was $3,167, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Republican tax changes should produce larger refunds in 2026.
Those changes include a Trump-backed tax-and-spending package signed last summer that adds new relief for tips and overtime and fresh deductions for qualifying older Americans, forcing the IRS to retool forms and systems just as filing begins.
At the same time, the workforce has shrunk sharply. After buyouts and layoffs overseen by the Department of Government Efficiency, IRS staff fell from more than 102,000 employees to about 75,700, a drop of roughly 26%. National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins, speaking to AP, warned Congress that “with the IRS workforce reduced by 26% and significant tax law changes on the horizon, there are risks to next year’s filing season.”
Bisignano Sets Digital-First, Security-Focused Agenda For IRS
Bisignano, appointed in October and also serving as Social Security commissioner, listed three main priorities for 2026, which include improving customer service, strengthening tax collection and safeguarding taxpayer data.
An IRS report on fiscal 2024 says the agency has recently improved its telephone and in-person service and launched a “Digital First” push that enabled more than 2 billion online assistance transactions, but it cautioned that sustained funding and staffing remain critical to maintain those gains.
Image via Shutterstock/ Dmitry Demidovich
Recent Comments