"Job switcheroo at the IRS: Hiring for temporary positions with reduced job security following a withdrawn commitment for permanent roles"
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is facing a significant challenge as it prepares for the next tax filing season. With more than 8,600 taxpayer services employees having left the IRS under the Trump administration, the agency is scrambling to hire over 11,000 call center representatives to maintain its current level of phone service.
Initially, the IRS put out hiring notices to fill 4,500 full-time contact service representative jobs. However, these notices were quickly pulled down from USAJobs due to budget constraints and staffing challenges. As a result, the IRS is now focusing on hiring seasonal workers with fewer employment rights for peak periods instead of thousands of full-time customer service agents as initially planned.
The IRS is using its direct hire authority to fill these positions, which will allow the agency to make hiring decisions within 40 to 45 days. More than 70% of the job posts are for seasonal hires that can't stay on the job for more than four years. The IRS is holding hiring events at several of its campuses across the country this month, and the remaining 1,520 seasonal positions are open to the public, as well as internal candidates.
Term employees, hired under the new plan, are employed for a fixed period and can be let go when that period ends, with far fewer protections against separation than permanent federal employees. Term employees in bargaining unit positions at the IRS have union representation and some contract protections, but lack long-term stability and the automatic career ladder of permanent federal employees.
For seasonal IRS employees to be considered for conversion to full-time career status, they must complete at least two years of term appointment work and be deemed 'fully successful' in their performance evaluations. The IRS is only filling 600 full-time lead and supervisory contact representative positions, and is considering internal candidates for these positions.
The IRS is also preparing its workforce and IT systems for major changes to the tax code as part of the 'Big Beautiful Bill' that Trump signed into law earlier this month. Without those hires, the IRS would only be able to answer about 16% of phone calls during next year's filing season. The Trump administration proposed giving the IRS more than $850 million to help the IRS hire those employees and roll out new automation tools to assist taxpayers, but the House Appropriations Committee advanced its fiscal 2026 spending bill without these funds.
The IRS moving these positions from full-time to seasonal jobs has been criticized as a 'bait-and-switch' by the National Treasury Employees Union. President Donald Trump extended a governmentwide hiring freeze to last until Oct. 15, but the original executive order says a hiring freeze at the IRS will remain in effect indefinitely until the Treasury Department, Office of Management and Budget, and U.S. DOGE Service determine 'that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze.'
Despite these challenges, the IRS is doing its best to prepare for the next tax filing season and provide the best possible service to taxpayers. The agency encourages anyone interested in a seasonal position to apply and attend one of the hiring events.
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