IRS needs 11,000 hires to ‘maintain’ phone support for 2026 filing season, plans on 60% cut to IT staffing

The IRS is preparing for major budget and staffing cuts next year, but simultaneously, congressional Republicans are trying to pass a budget reconciliation package that would create much more work for the tax agency. Former IRS leaders say they’re concerned the agency will have fewer resources to provide an acceptable level of customer service during next year’s filing season — especially if President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” makes it through Congress. The tax-and-spending cuts bill would have the IRS scrambling to prepare its IT systems and employees for…

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IRS ‘prepared’ for 2025 filing season, but potential spending cuts loom for the agency

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing for a tax season that will look quite different for 2025, with the coming expansion of the agency’s Direct File program and other modernization efforts — but also a looming possibility of further IRS spending cuts led by Republican lawmakers. For the 2025 tax filing season, the IRS’ Direct File program will be available in 25 states, more than doubling the 12 states where the IRS-run online filing system was an option for taxpayers in 2024. The IRS will begin accepting tax returns on…

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OPM expects busy Open Season standing up USPS health insurance marketplace in 2024

The Office of Personnel Management expects to receive a much higher volume of calls during next year’s Open Season. That’s because a Postal Service reform bill signed into law in 2022 is moving postal employees and retirees into a different health insurance marketplace from the rest of the federal workforce, starting in January 2025. OPM Director Kiran Ahuja told members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee earlier this month that the agency is on track to create a standalone Postal Service Health Benefits Program. “It’s a huge effort, it’s…

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MoveOn Launches New Anti-Johnson Ad Campaign During Packers’ Season Opener

Milwaukee, WI — As Wisconsinites tune into the Green Bay Packers’ NFL season opener Sunday, they will see MoveOn Political Action’s new TV ad criticizing Sen. Ron Johnson for being an out-of-touch MAGA millionaire who is incapable of relating to the real needs of working-class Americans.  “Before the Packers’ season even opened, Ron Johnson had already sacked his own constituents by voting against the Inflation Reduction Act,” said MoveOn Political Action Executive Director Rahna Epting. “People in Wisconsin deserve cheaper prescription drugs and clean-energy jobs. They don’t need a MAGA…

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