Trump fires IRS commissioner, Treasury Secretary Bessent named acting head

WASHINGTON – Mr Billy Long, the former auctioneer and Republican congressman who was confirmed less than two months ago as head of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), has been abruptly removed from the post by President Donald Trump, the administration disclosed on Aug 8.

Mr Long, who had little background in tax policy beyond promoting a fraud-riddled tax credit, had clashed at times with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during his brief tenure, three people familiar with the decision said.

He also made high-profile mistakes, at one point in July, telling tax practitioners that the agency’s all-important filing season would start late in 2026, a statement that the IRS later said was premature.

A gregarious and colourful personality, Mr Long had tried to cultivate a connection with the depleted and demoralised IRS workforce.

He visited IRS locations around the country and repeatedly sent e-mails to all IRS employees allowing them to leave work early on Friday afternoons.

“With this being Thursday before another FriYay, please enjoy a 70-minute early exit tomorrow. That way you’ll be rested for my 70th birthday on Monday!” Mr Long wrote to staff on Aug 7, a Thursday.

His departure intensifies the management turmoil that has plagued the agency since Mr Trump took office.

Mr Bessent will serve as the acting head of the IRS while the Trump administration finds and confirms a new commissioner, a senior administration official said, making the Treasury Secretary the seventh individual to lead the tax agency in 2025.

Mr Long wrote on social media that he would be nominated to become the next US ambassador to Iceland.

“It is an honour to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland,” Mr Long wrote. “I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead.”

In another post on the afternoon of Aug 8, Mr Long clarified that filing season would not start late in 2026.

“Rest assured, tax filing season will start at the customary time,” he wrote.

Mr Long had remarked to some colleagues that he had to ask Mr Bessent for permission for everything he did at the IRS, two of the people familiar with the decision to remove him said.

Others added that the Trump administration officials had been considering moving Mr Long to a new position for several weeks.

One person familiar with the decision maintained that Mr Bessent had been supportive of Mr Long and had pushed the Senate to confirm him, which it did in June along party lines.

In a statement, the Treasury Department thanked Long “for his commitment to public service and the American people”, and said a new commissioner would be announced “at an appropriate time”.

The IRS is at the centre of one of the Trump administration’s top priorities, carrying out the huge tax cut Republicans passed into law in July.

The agency, along with the Treasury Department, is responsible for writing the rules for and disseminating information about several tricky issues in the law, including who can claim new tax breaks for tipped income and overtime pay.

That is a tall task that former IRS officials said would only become more challenging amid the internal turbulence.

More than 25,000 people have left the agency under Mr Trump, roughly a quarter of the staff it had at the start of January, according to the Treasury’s inspector-general for tax administration. Congress is also eyeing steep budget cuts to the IRS.

“It has to have some impact on the agency’s ability to deliver this major piece of legislation,” said Mr Terry Lemons, who led the IRS’ communication efforts before retiring in 2025.

“The people who are left, are they going to be able to handle this high volume with fewer staff and the potential for more budget cuts hanging over their heads?”

Mr Trump had broken from recent precedent when he said would nominate Mr Long in 2024.

For decades, IRS commissioners served five-year terms, an attempt to insulate the technocratic yet powerful position from partisan politics. Mr Daniel Werfel, then President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the IRS, stepped down in January.

A string of acting commissioners then led the agency, several of whom quit earlier in 2025 as the Trump administration leaned on the IRS to its abandon its longstanding protections of taxpayer information and share data with immigration officials.

One of the previous acting commissioners, IRS agent Gary Shapley, was replaced within just a few days this spring after Mr Bessent protested to Mr Trump that Mr Elon Musk had installed the IRS leader without consulting him, The New York Times previously reported.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement: “In just a handful of months, Trump and his crew have already gutted taxpayer service, weaponised IRS data against innocent taxpayers and set us up for disaster when next year’s filing season comes around,”

There had been hope among some at the IRS that Mr Long would restore some amount of stability to the agency, even though he had supported legislation calling for its abolition while in Congress.

Instead, Mr John Koskinen, who served as IRS commissioner in the Obama and Trump administrations, said Mr Long may have had the shortest tenure ever for a Senate-confirmed leader of the agency.

“It has to be a new American record for the shortest IRS tenure in history,” he said. “Obviously, he had no background in tax and no background in management. You give him a 75,000-person agency in charge of the tax code, and it is a bit of a challenge.”

Republicans have long taken a hostile approach to the IRS, seeking to cut its budget and weaken its ability to conduct audits.

Republican members of Congress had cheered Mr Long’s decision to place two top IRS officials, including the leader of the large business and international division, on administrative leave.

Before he left, Mr Long amplified a post on social media about the need to “purge” the agency’s workforce.

The IRS did not respond to a request for comment. NYTIMES