Around 400 Philadelphia IRS employees were laid off on Thursday as part of the Trump administration's efforts to cut down the size of the federal workforce, a union leader confirmed with NBC10.
Alex Jay Berman, the executive vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 71, told NBC10 on Thursday that 250 to 300 Philadelphia probationary IRS workers received their layoff letters during the day. The rest of the employees who work the night shift received them Thursday evening.
Berman said the employees are probationary workers with roughly one year or less of service at the agency.
“The letters are willfully incorrect and to our belief in NTEU unlawful," Berman told NBC10. "They say essentially 'your ability, skills and performance do not make you a fit for federal employment. In addition, your performance is not up to par.' This is patently untrue. These are being all issued with the exact same wording to every single one of these probationary employees, whether they have just gotten out of training and had no performance metrics. Whether they have been here for almost their entire year and had very good performance appraisals.”
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Earlier on Thursday, the Associated Press confirmed the IRS would lay off roughly 7,000 probationary workers across the country. The layoffs largely include workers in compliance departments, a source told the Associated Press. Compliance work includes ensuring that taxpayers are abiding by the tax code, filing their returns and paying their taxes, among other duties.
The layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who have not yet gained civil service protection. They come despite IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season being told earlier this month that they would not be allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until mid-May, after the taxpayer filing deadline.
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One of the laid off IRS employees, Robert McCabe, told NBC10 he went into work on Thursday and had issues logging in. He and his coworker sat around and waited for instructions. He then received the layoff letter shortly before 11:30 a.m. McCabe said he had been a supporter of President Trump prior to the layoff.
“You know when he talks about government waste and all that, yes, I’m behind it,” McCabe said. “I believe there is a lot of stuff in the government that needs fixing. And that’s part of the reason why I actually wanted to work for the government, actually. To help change. Help change the things that are wrong in the world, you know? I thought that someone with his business acumen would have come in with a fine-tooth comb and actually found it instead of coming in with a wrecking ball and destroying people’s lives for no reason.”
It's unclear how the layoffs may affect tax collection services this year. As the nation's revenue collector, the IRS was tasked during the Biden administration with targeting high-wealth tax evaders for an additional stream of income to the U.S., which is $36 trillion in debt. By the end of 2024, the IRS collected over $1.3 billion in back taxes from rich tax dodgers.
The IRS has roughly 90,000 employees total across the United States, according to the latest IRS data. Racial minorities make up 56% of the IRS workforce, and women represent 65%.
In addition to the planned layoffs, the Trump administration intends to lend IRS workers to the Department of Homeland Security to assist with immigration enforcement. In a letter sent earlier this month, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to borrow IRS workers to help with ongoing immigration crackdown efforts.
Representatives from the IRS and U.S. Treasury did not respond to requests for comment from the AP.
