IRS Watchdog Warns 27% Staff Cut Threatens 2026 Filing Season Amid New Tax Law

National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins, in her annual report to Congress released two days after the 2026 filing season opened, warns that deep IRS workforce reductions and complex changes from last summer’s GOP tax-and-spending law could make it much harder for taxpayers who run into problems to get help this year. Collins notes the IRS has lost roughly 27% of its workforce since early 2025—dropping from about 102,000 to 74,000 employees—while simultaneously implementing "extensive and complex" new provisions in President Trump’s signature law, even as Treasury leaders publicly promise a smooth season and "substantial tax refunds." A separate letter from Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration flags staffing levels back at October 2021 levels, thousands of unprocessed returns and pieces of correspondence still in the pipeline, and cautions that modernization efforts may not offset the loss of experienced staff in time for 2026. The watchdogs stress that most of the 160‑plus million filers should still get returns processed and refunds issued normally, but say the real test will be whether the downsized IRS can answer phones, resolve errors and handle complex cases once the new law’s rules start to bite. The warnings sharpen an emerging contrast between administration rhetoric about big refunds and affordability relief, and independent oversight findings that the agency administering those promises is being hollowed out just as its workload gets harder.