IRS firings have begun. Tax evasion enforcement could be hit especially hard.

• The IRS is the latest agency to be hit with probationary worker terminations.
• The firings come as agencies across the government have seen their workforces slashed.
• IRS staff were told of the cuts Wednesday in a memo asking them to be in the office Thursday and Friday.

The Internal Revenue Service is the latest target for slashing the federal workforce, with probationary workers saying they've started to receive termination letters — even as the agency is in the midst of tax filing season.

"We've been waiting for the shoe to drop since Inauguration Day," the IRS probationary worker told Business Insider before termination letters were sent out. "It's been exhausting and at this point, we are all just ready for the bandaid to be ripped off."

Now, the proverbial bandaid is off.

These terminations could specifically hit the jobs responsible for enforcement and tax evasion. One source who was fired told BI that they were tasked with investigating tax compliance and alerting the IRS of any findings of fraud or evasion.

Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, also said on a Thursday press call that the terminations could "disproportionately affect enforcement" because the Inflation Reduction Act invested in new hires in that department. Firings are focused on probationary employees, many of whom are new hires who have been at the IRS for less than a year.

"When you underpay and understaff the IRS, the agency doesn't have the power or the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax evaders with their high-priced lawyers," Williamson said.

The firings were signaled earlier this week in a memo telling staff to come into the office Thursday and Friday and bring any "government-issued equipment."

It said coming in at short notice "may be an inconvenience, and we truly appreciate your flexibility."

"Under an executive order, IRS has been directed to terminate probationary employees who were not deemed as critical to filing season. We don't have many details that we are permitted to share, but this is all tied to compliance with the executive order," the email, sent Wednesday and seen by BI, said.

The extent of the cuts is unclear, but Office of Personnel Management data showed 14,130 of the nearly 95,000 federal civilian workers for the IRS had less than a year of service as of May.

The Associated Press reported on February 15 that the agency was set to terminate thousands of probationary workers. On Tuesday, the president of the Kansas City National Treasury Employees Union local — the umbrella union for IRS workers, among others — said that probationary workers were set to be terminated.

A Q&A form sent to the managers of terminated IRS employees — reviewed by BI — on Thursday said that affected workers who were on leave would have their leaves canceled and are expected to report to the office to return their equipment. Employees will be paid for the full day on February 20, the form said, and they're expected to be notified of their terminations by noon that same day.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS workers, already filed a lawsuit on February 12 asking a judge to deem widespread probationary worker firings — along with the "Fork in the Road" deferred resignation program — unlawful.

Representatives for the IRS, the White House, and DOGE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The cuts at the IRS follow other agencies slashing their probationary workforce, including the Office of Personnel Management.

"Right now, I'm just going from crying to just trying to figure everything out," an OPM worker, who was terminated and is considering where to apply to next, previously told BI.

Some probationary workers from various agencies who were told they were fired on performance-based grounds are already pushing back, with some turning toward their unions and potential litigation.

One attorney expects more job cuts in the federal workforce and thinks they won't just be aimed at probationary workers.

"We're in the mass termination of probationary employees," Michael Fallings, a partner at the law firm Tully Rinckey PLLC, said.

"What's likely next is the reduction in force procedures, which is really the official, correct way to reduce the size of federal workforce that you even saw past administrations utilize," he added.

Are you a federal worker with a story or information to share? Contact these reporters via Signal at julianakaplan.33 and madisonhoff.06, or via email at jkaplan@businessinsider.com and mhoff@businessinsider.com.