You may have heard people talking about how the IRS is expanding due to new funding that they received. They are going to hire around 19,000 new workers over the course of 2023, these reports continue, which is roughly the same amount of people who are hired in 2022. It is notably more than the number hired in 2021 when the IRS only brought on 6,000 new workers.
It is true that the IRS is hiring, and the goal is to hire 19,000 workers. However, this does not mean that there will be that many new revenue agents or that the company is growing by nearly 20,000 employees.
Reports indicate that the majority of those positions will simply be replacements. Other employees are going to leave or retire, and the IRS has constant turnover. The total number of workers may only increase by about 5,000 people. It could be as many as 10,000, but even that high-end estimate is roughly half of the total number.
Will there be more audits?
That being said, growth is growth, and it is true that the IRS has been expanding now for the last two years. This could mean that there will be more audits as the government simply has more agents in place to conduct them. That said, some reports say that only 3,000 of these hires will be revenue agents, so most workers will be hired to positions that are more behind the scenes.
Regardless, if you are interested in making sure your taxes go smoothly this year, be sure you know about your legal options.