Research
The IRS Budget and Workforce Report 2026: Funding, Staffing, and Cost to Collect
A primary-source data profile of Internal Revenue Service funding and staffing, built from the IRS Data Book, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and Treasury budget documents. Every figure carries its exact fiscal year. Appropriated base funding is kept distinct from Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) supplemental funding throughout.
Executive summary
- The IRS spent $19.0 billion on overall operations in FY2025 and used 95,226 full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions, both the highest since at least FY1996 (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Tables 6-1 and 6-2).
- It cost the IRS $0.36 to collect $100 in gross revenue in FY2025, unchanged from FY2024 and down from the FY2010 peak of $0.53 (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2).
- The IRS collected $5.31 trillion in gross collections in FY2025, up from $5.10 trillion in FY2024 (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2).
- The IRA of 2022 gave the IRS $79.4 billion in supplemental funding; four rescissions through January 2026 cut that by $53.5 billion, leaving $26 billion available through September 30, 2031 (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003, March 2026).
- The IRS lost 31,273 employees to separations and incentives from January 2025 to January 2026, about 30 percent of its workforce; after roughly 2,000 hires the net reduction was 28 percent (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R009, June 9, 2026).
- Roughly 33 percent of revenue agents and 32 percent of tax examiners separated during 2025, concentrating the workforce loss in enforcement and return-processing roles (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R009, June 9, 2026).
- Enforcement accounted for $7.15 billion (37.7 percent) of FY2025 obligations; Taxpayer Services $4.41 billion (23.3 percent); Operations Support $6.56 billion (34.6 percent) (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-1).
- CBO estimated the January 2026 rescission of $11.7 billion in IRA funds would reduce federal revenues by $38.6 billion over FY2026-2035 (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003 citing CBO, March 2026).
Key findings
- IRS operating costs reached $18,968,701 thousand ($19.0 billion) in FY2025, up from $18,198,029 thousand in FY2024 (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2, United States).
- The IRS used 95,226 realized FTE positions in FY2025, up from 90,516 in FY2024 and from a modern low of 73,519 in FY2018 (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2, United States).
- The cost of collecting $100 was $0.36 in both FY2024 and FY2025, versus $0.29 in FY2022 and $0.53 at the FY2010 peak (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2, United States).
- Gross collections were $5,313,762,307 thousand ($5.31 trillion) in FY2025 (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2, United States).
- Enforcement obligations totaled $7,154,831 thousand in FY2025, of which $5,897,277 thousand was examinations and collections (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-1, United States).
- Business Systems Modernization obligations fell to $839,715 thousand in FY2025 from $1,285,445 thousand in FY2024, a 34.7 percent decline (Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-1, United States).
- The IRA of 2022 (Pub. L. No. 117-169) originally provided $79.4 billion in multiyear supplemental IRS funding (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003, March 2026).
- Cumulative IRA rescissions through January 2026 totaled $53.5 billion: $41.8 billion from Enforcement and $11.7 billion from Operations Support (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003, March 2026).
- Remaining IRA funding as of January 2026 was $26 billion, available through September 30, 2031 (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003, March 2026).
- The IRS had spent about $15.7 billion (61 percent) of the remaining $26 billion IRA balance as of September 30, 2025, including $6.7 billion spent in FY2025 alone (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003, March 2026).
- In FY2025 the IRS used about $4.8 billion of IRA funds to supplement its annual appropriation, including $3.5 billion for labor and $1.3 billion for IT operations and maintenance (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003, March 2026).
- 31,273 IRS employees separated or took an incentive from January 2025 to January 2026, about 30 percent of the workforce (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R009, June 9, 2026).
- After roughly 2,000 backfill hires by January 2026, the net staffing reduction was 28 percent (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R009, June 9, 2026).
- The FY2025 annual appropriation provided about $12.3 billion for three of four primary activities, with no appropriated funding for Business Systems Modernization (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003 citing Pub. L. No. 119-4, March 2026).
- CBO estimated the $11.7 billion January 2026 rescission would cut revenues by $2.7 billion in FY2026 and $38.6 billion over FY2026-2035 (Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003 citing CBO, March 2026).
Section 1: IRS operating costs and the cost of collecting $100
The IRS Data Book reports “operating costs” as items charged to discretionary appropriations, mandatory appropriations, and user fees, and it explicitly includes costs charged to the IRA supplemental fund from FY2022 forward. The cost of collecting $100 is operating costs divided by gross collections, times 100. This is the agency’s headline efficiency metric.
Operating costs rose from $14.27 billion in FY2022 to $19.0 billion in FY2025, a 33 percent nominal increase over three years. Gross collections rose more slowly over the same window, from $4.90 trillion to $5.31 trillion. Because collections dipped in FY2023 while costs climbed, the cost-to-collect ratio rose from its FY2022 low of $0.29 back to $0.36 by FY2024 and held there in FY2025.
The FY2022 figure of $0.29 is the lowest in the published 1996-2025 series and reflects unusually high collections during that year. The FY2025 population and per-capita figures are marked preliminary by the IRS.
Table 1: Collections, operating costs, cost-to-collect, and FTE, FY1996-FY2025
| Fiscal year | Gross collections ($000) | Operating costs ($000) | Cost of collecting $100 | FTE positions realized |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 1,486,546,674 | 7,240,221 | $0.49 | 106,642 |
| 2000 | 2,096,916,925 | 8,258,423 | $0.39 | 97,074 |
| 2005 | 2,268,895,122 | 10,397,837 | $0.46 | 94,282 |
| 2010 | 2,345,055,978 | 12,353,344 | $0.53 | 94,711 |
| 2015 | 3,302,677,258 | 11,395,839 | $0.35 | 79,890 |
| 2018 | 3,465,466,627 | 11,746,448 | $0.34 | 73,519 |
| 2019 | 3,564,583,961 | 11,825,241 | $0.33 | 73,554 |
| 2020 | 3,493,067,956 | 12,316,275 | $0.35 | 75,773 |
| 2021 | 4,111,569,512 | 13,701,027 | $0.33 | 78,661 |
| 2022 | 4,901,514,194 | 14,267,359 | $0.29 | 79,070 |
| 2023 | 4,694,335,168 | 16,148,200 | $0.34 | 82,990 |
| 2024 | 5,100,489,478 | 18,198,029 | $0.36 | 90,516 |
| 2025 [p] | 5,313,762,307 | 18,968,701 | $0.36 | 95,226 |
Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2. [p] = preliminary data based on short-term projections. All amounts in current (nominal) dollars.
Note on real terms: the IRS states that FY2025 operating costs in constant 2025 dollars were about 22 percent above FY2016, and that FY2025 FTEs were 22.2 percent above FY2016. Full inflation-adjusted year-by-year figures are published only as a chart in the Data Book, not as a table, so this profile uses the nominal series and flags the real-terms context rather than reproducing unverifiable per-year deflated numbers.
Section 2: Spending by budget activity (FY2024-FY2025)
The IRS budget is organized into four appropriated activities plus Energy Security. Enforcement is the largest, followed by Operations Support (which the IRS proposed renaming “Technology and Operations Support” for FY2026 because technology is its largest component).
Table 2: Total obligations by budget activity, FY2024 and FY2025
| Budget activity | FY2024 ($000) | FY2025 ($000) | FY2025 share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total obligations against appropriated funds | 18,198,029 | 18,968,701 | 100% |
| Taxpayer Services | 4,109,763 | 4,411,451 | 23.3% |
| Enforcement | 6,502,342 | 7,154,831 | 37.7% |
| Operations Support | 6,241,344 | 6,558,215 | 34.6% |
| Business Systems Modernization | 1,285,445 | 839,715 | 4.4% |
| Energy Security | 59,135 | 4,489 | <0.1% |
Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-1. Money amounts in thousands of current dollars. Shares computed from FY2025 column.
Within Enforcement, examinations and collections was $5,897,277 thousand and investigations was $1,047,382 thousand in FY2025. Within Operations Support, information services was the single largest line at $4,206,176 thousand. Personnel compensation and benefits was $13,186,441 thousand of the $18,968,701 thousand total, meaning labor was 69.5 percent of FY2025 obligations.
Business Systems Modernization dropped sharply because the FY2025 annual appropriation (Pub. L. No. 119-4) provided no dedicated BSM funding; technology upgrades were increasingly funded through Operations Support and IRA balances.
Section 3: Inflation Reduction Act supplemental funding and rescissions
The IRA (Pub. L. No. 117-169), enacted August 12, 2022, gave the IRS roughly $79.4 billion in multiyear supplemental funding, separate from and on top of the annual appropriation. Congress then rescinded funds four times.
Table 3: IRA funding and rescissions
| Event | Legislation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Original IRA supplemental | Pub. L. No. 117-169 (Aug 2022) | +$79.4 billion |
| Rescission 1 | Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (Pub. L. No. 118-5) | -$1.4 billion |
| Rescission 2 | Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Pub. L. No. 118-47) | -$20.2 billion |
| Rescission 3 | Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (Pub. L. No. 119-4) | -$20.2 billion |
| Rescission 4 | Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Pub. L. No. 119-75) | -$11.7 billion |
| Total rescinded | -$53.5 billion | |
| Remaining, available through Sept 30, 2031 | $26 billion |
Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003, March 2026, citing the listed public laws.
Of the $53.5 billion rescinded, $41.8 billion came from Enforcement and $11.7 billion from Operations Support. After the cuts, the remaining $26 billion was allocated across primary activities as: Operations Support $13.7 billion, Business Systems Modernization $4.8 billion, Enforcement $3.8 billion, and Taxpayer Services $3.2 billion, plus $500 million for Energy Security and $15 million for a direct e-file feasibility study (the study funds expired September 30, 2023).
IRA spending to date
As of September 30, 2025, the IRS had spent about $15.7 billion of the remaining $26 billion (61 percent), including about $6.7 billion spent in FY2025. In FY2025 the IRS reported using roughly $4.8 billion of IRA funds to supplement its annual appropriation (which it said did not cover normal operating expenses), split between $3.5 billion in labor costs and $1.3 billion in IT operations and maintenance. This blurs the line the IRA intended between supplemental transformation money and base operating money, a point TIGTA flags directly.
Section 4: The annual appropriated base budget
Distinct from IRA money, the IRS runs on an annual discretionary appropriation. The FY2025 enacted base (Pub. L. No. 119-4) was about $12.3 billion, funding Taxpayer Services ($2.8 billion), Enforcement ($5.4 billion), and Operations Support ($4.1 billion), with no appropriated Business Systems Modernization line.
For FY2026, the Treasury/IRS Budget in Brief requested $9,831,368 thousand ($9.83 billion) in new appropriated funding, a 20.19 percent decrease from the $12.3 billion FY2025 enacted level, and requested renaming Operations Support to “Technology and Operations Support.” The request paired the cut with a Program Decrease of $3,386,356 thousand and 16,284 FTE, offset by a Program Increase of $852,732 thousand and 11,159 FTE.
The enacted FY2026 base, per reporting on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Pub. L. No. 119-75, signed February 3, 2026), was about $11.2 billion, roughly a 9 percent cut from the $12.3 billion FY2025 level. This enacted figure is drawn from secondary reporting on the law and should be confirmed against the IRS FY2026 operating plan when published; it is flagged as a data gap below.
Table 4: Appropriated base budget, recent fiscal years
| Fiscal year | Appropriated base | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 enacted | ~$12.3 billion | Primary (TIGTA citing Pub. L. No. 119-4) |
| FY2026 President’s request | $9.83 billion | Primary (Treasury/IRS FY2026 Budget in Brief) |
| FY2026 enacted | ~$11.2 billion | Secondary (reporting on Pub. L. No. 119-75), flagged |
Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003; Treasury/IRS FY2026 Budget in Brief; congressional reporting on Pub. L. No. 119-75.
Section 5: Workforce trends and the 2025 reductions
Realized FTEs fell from 106,642 in FY1996 to a modern low of 73,519 in FY2018, then rose steadily to 95,226 in FY2025 as IRA hiring took effect. The FY2025 Data Book figure is a full-year average of straight-time hours, which is why it can exceed a point-in-time headcount even in a year of heavy separations.
The 2025 downsizing is documented in three TIGTA snapshot reports. The January 2026 report found 31,273 employees separated or took an incentive between January 2025 and January 2026, about 30 percent of the workforce, offset by about 2,000 hires for a net 28 percent reduction.
Table 5: Breakdown of IRS separations, January 2025-January 2026
| Separation channel | Employees |
|---|---|
| Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) | 4,528 |
| Treasury Deferred Resignation Program (TDRP) | 17,115 |
| Third DRP program | 4 |
| Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP, buyouts) | 1,622 |
| Other separations (resignations, retirements, terminations) | 8,004 |
| Total separations | 31,273 |
| Estimated backfill hires | ~2,000 |
Source: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R009, June 9, 2026. TDRP includes 3,237 probationary employees who took the incentive after a court reinstatement order; “other separations” includes 1,182 probationary employees who resigned after termination notices.
Probationary terminations and reductions in force
The IRS sent termination notices to 7,315 probationary employees in February and March 2025. After court challenges and Treasury direction, it reinstated those who had not already resigned or taken the TDRP. As of January 2026 the disposition was: 3,237 took a separation incentive, 1,182 resigned without an incentive, 2,835 returned to work, and 61 were being rehired.
Two rounds of formal reduction-in-force (RIF) notices were issued (April 2025 to three offices totaling 294 employees, and October-November 2025 to 1,313 employees across six offices). Both rounds were cancelled by court orders and the affected employees returned to work.
Concentration of loss
The reductions hit enforcement and processing hardest: about 33 percent of revenue agents (who conduct audits) and about 32 percent of tax examiners (who process returns) separated. TIGTA and the National Taxpayer Advocate both warned of elevated operational risk for the 2026 filing season, citing staffing shortages, delayed hiring, growing inventories of amended returns and correspondence, and complexity from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Pub. L. No. 119-21).
Original synthesis: three derived insights
Insight 1: The “efficiency paradox” index, FY2010-FY2025
Logic: track the cost of collecting $100 against realized FTEs to test whether the cheapest tax collection coincides with the smallest workforce. Inputs: IRS Data Book 2025 Table 6-2, columns 3 (cost-to-collect) and 6 (FTE).
- FY2010: $0.53 to collect $100, 94,711 FTE.
- FY2018: $0.34, 73,519 FTE (lowest FTE).
- FY2022: $0.29, 79,070 FTE (lowest cost-to-collect).
- FY2025: $0.36, 95,226 FTE (highest FTE).
Finding: the record-low cost of collecting $100 ($0.29 in FY2022) did not occur at the lowest staffing level; it occurred during a collections surge. Between FY2022 and FY2025 the IRS added 16,156 FTE (a 20.4 percent increase) while cost-to-collect rose from $0.29 to $0.36. Efficiency as measured by this ratio is driven more by the collections denominator than by headcount. Limitation: cost-to-collect is sensitive to one-year swings in gross collections and does not adjust for inflation or for the composition of collections.
Insight 2: IRA rescission “revenue multiplier”
Logic: compare dollars rescinded to CBO’s estimated revenue loss to express a rough return on the rescinded enforcement funding. Inputs: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003 (rescission amounts) and CBO estimates reported therein.
- January 2026 rescission: $11.7 billion cut, CBO-estimated revenue loss of $38.6 billion over FY2026-2035. Ratio: about $3.30 of forgone revenue per $1 rescinded.
- CBO’s February 2024 analysis: a $20 billion rescission was estimated to cut revenues by $44 billion (about $2.20 per $1), and a $35 billion rescission by $89 billion (about $2.54 per $1).
Finding: across CBO scenarios, each $1 of IRA funding rescinded is estimated to forgo roughly $2 to $3 in future federal revenue. The estimates are ratios derived from CBO figures, not new revenue projections. Limitation: CBO scenarios use different baselines and year ranges and are not directly comparable; they are estimates of enforcement-driven revenue that carry substantial uncertainty.
Insight 3: Workforce loss concentration ratio
Logic: compare the overall 30 percent separation rate to the separation rates in the two most-cited job series to measure how disproportionately the cuts hit revenue-producing roles. Inputs: TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R009.
- Overall separations: about 30 percent of the workforce.
- Revenue agents: about 33 percent separated (1.10x the overall rate).
- Tax examiners: about 32 percent separated (1.07x the overall rate).
Finding: the two job series most directly tied to auditing and return processing separated at 7 to 10 percent above the agency-wide rate, meaning the workforce contraction fell hardest on enforcement and processing capacity rather than being spread evenly. Combined with the concurrent enforcement-heavy IRA rescissions ($41.8 billion of $53.5 billion), the data show funding and staffing cuts compounding in the same functional area. Limitation: TIGTA reports these as approximate percentages and notes it did not independently validate the underlying IRS Human Capital Office data.
Charts to create
- Cost of collecting $100, FY1996-FY2025. Data: Table 6-2 column 3. Source: IRS Data Book 2025. Insight: the long decline from $0.49 to a $0.29 trough then back to $0.36. Citation-worthy because it is the single most-quoted IRS efficiency metric and the reversal since FY2022 is newsworthy.
- IRA funding waterfall: $79.4B original to $26B remaining. Data: Table 3. Source: TIGTA 2026-IE-R003. Insight: four rescissions removed two-thirds of the supplemental fund. Citation-worthy for its clean visual of a major policy reversal.
- IRS realized FTEs, FY1996-FY2025. Data: Table 6-2 column 6. Source: IRS Data Book 2025. Insight: the U-shaped path from 106,642 down to 73,519 (FY2018) back to 95,226. Citation-worthy as the definitive long-run staffing series before the 2025 cuts show up in future Data Books.
- FY2025 spending by budget activity (stacked/pie). Data: Table 2. Source: IRS Data Book 2025 Table 6-1. Insight: Enforcement plus Operations Support are 72 percent of the budget.
- 2025 separations by channel. Data: Table 5. Source: TIGTA 2026-IE-R009. Insight: the TDRP alone accounts for 17,115 of 31,273 separations.
Methodology
Source selection prioritized Tier-1 primary sources: the IRS Data Book (the agency’s official statistical annual), TIGTA evaluation reports, CBO estimates as reported by TIGTA, and Treasury/IRS budget documents. Numerical series (collections, operating costs, cost-to-collect, FTE, budget by activity) were taken directly from the IRS Data Book 2025 Tables 6-1 and 6-2, extracted from the primary PDF. IRA funding, rescissions, and spending come from TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003. Workforce reduction figures come from TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R009.
Inclusion rule: a figure was included only if traceable to a primary government document with a stated fiscal year. Exclusion rule: figures presented only in secondary media without a primary source were excluded, except the FY2026 enacted base ($11.2 billion), which is retained but explicitly flagged as secondary-sourced pending the IRS FY2026 operating plan.
Handling conflicts: where the Data Book marks FY2025 population and per-capita as preliminary [p], the report labels them accordingly. Where inflation-adjusted per-year figures exist only as Data Book charts (not tables), the report uses nominal figures and reports the IRS’s stated real-terms context (22 percent above FY2016) rather than reproducing deflated numbers that cannot be verified line by line.
Derived figures: the three synthesis insights are ratios computed from the cited primary values; formulas and limitations are stated inline. Date of last update: 2026-06-29.
Source quality ranking
Tier 1 (primary government/official):
– IRS Data Book 2025 (Publication 55B), Tables 6-1 and 6-2, and highlights. Official IRS statistical annual.
– TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R009, “Snapshot Report: Status of the IRS’s Workforce as of January 2026,” June 9, 2026.
– TIGTA Report 2026-IE-R003, “Snapshot: The IRS’s Inflation Reduction Act Spending Through September 30, 2025,” March 2026.
– Congressional Budget Office revenue estimates (as reported and cited within TIGTA 2026-IE-R003).
– Treasury/IRS FY2026 Budget in Brief (Program Summary by Budget Activity).
– Public laws cited by TIGTA: Pub. L. Nos. 117-169, 118-5, 118-47, 119-4, 119-75, 119-21.
Tier 3 (reputable journalism, used only for the FY2026 enacted base pending primary confirmation):
– Congressional and trade reporting on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (used only for the ~$11.2 billion enacted base figure, flagged).
Excluded: USAFacts and other aggregators were used only to locate primary Data Book figures and are not relied on as the citation of record; where their numbers matched the Data Book, the Data Book is cited instead. Any figure not traceable to a primary document was dropped.
Citation format (major statistics)
- Operating costs, FTE, cost-to-collect, collections:
Source: Internal Revenue Service, Data Book 2025 (Publication 55B), Table 6-2, Collections, Costs, Personnel, and U.S. Population, Fiscal Years 1996-2025. - Spending by budget activity:
Source: Internal Revenue Service, Data Book 2025 (Publication 55B), Table 6-1, Costs Incurred by Budget Activity, Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025. - IRA funding and rescissions:
Source: Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Report No. 2026-IE-R003, Snapshot: The IRS's Inflation Reduction Act Spending Through September 30, 2025 (March 2026). - Workforce reductions:
Source: Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Report No. 2026-IE-R009, Snapshot Report: Status of the IRS's Workforce as of January 2026 (June 9, 2026). - FY2026 budget request:
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, IRS FY2026 Budget in Brief, Program Summary by Budget Activity.
Journalist-friendly additions
Most quotable statistics
- It cost the IRS 36 cents to collect $100 in FY2025, down from 53 cents at the FY2010 peak (IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2).
- The IRS collected $5.31 trillion in FY2025 and spent $19.0 billion doing it (IRS Data Book 2025, Tables 6-1, 6-2).
- The IRA gave the IRS $79.4 billion; four rescissions cut it to $26 billion by January 2026 (TIGTA 2026-IE-R003).
- The IRS lost about 30 percent of its workforce, 31,273 employees, from January 2025 to January 2026 (TIGTA 2026-IE-R009).
- Roughly one in three IRS revenue agents separated during 2025 (TIGTA 2026-IE-R009).
- CBO estimates the $11.7 billion January 2026 rescission will cut federal revenue by $38.6 billion through 2035 (CBO, via TIGTA 2026-IE-R003).
Data limitations
- FY2025 population and per-capita figures in Table 6-2 are preliminary [p].
- The FY2026 enacted base ($11.2 billion) is from secondary reporting on Pub. L. No. 119-75 and awaits the primary IRS operating plan.
- Data Book “operating costs” include IRA-funded costs from FY2022, so the base appropriation and IRA supplemental are commingled in the cost-to-collect and Table 6-2 series.
- Realized FTE is a full-year hours average and is not a point-in-time headcount, so the FY2025 Data Book FTE (95,226) is not directly comparable to TIGTA’s separation headcounts.
- CBO revenue estimates carry substantial uncertainty and use differing baselines and year ranges.
- TIGTA did not independently validate the IRS Human Capital Office workforce data.
Downloadable dataset: recommended fields
fiscal_year, gross_collections_usd_000, operating_costs_usd_000, cost_to_collect_per_100_usd, fte_realized, avg_tax_per_capita_usd, us_population_000, taxpayer_services_obligations_usd_000, enforcement_obligations_usd_000, operations_support_obligations_usd_000, bsm_obligations_usd_000, energy_security_obligations_usd_000, ira_original_usd_bn, ira_rescinded_cumulative_usd_bn, ira_remaining_usd_bn, ira_spent_cumulative_usd_bn, appropriated_base_usd_bn, separations_total, net_workforce_change_pct, source, source_url, data_status_flag
Press summary (about 150 words)
The Internal Revenue Service spent $19.0 billion to collect $5.31 trillion in gross revenue in fiscal year 2025, at a cost of 36 cents per $100 collected, according to the IRS Data Book 2025. Staffing measured 95,226 full-time-equivalent positions, the highest since at least 1996, though that annual average masks a steep 2025 downsizing. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that 31,273 employees, about 30 percent of the workforce, separated or took a resignation incentive between January 2025 and January 2026; after roughly 2,000 hires the net loss was 28 percent, concentrated among revenue agents and tax examiners. Separately, the Inflation Reduction Act’s original $79.4 billion IRS supplement has been cut by $53.5 billion through four rescissions, leaving $26 billion available through 2031. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the most recent $11.7 billion rescission will reduce federal revenue by $38.6 billion through 2035.
Suggested headlines
- IRS Cost to Collect $100 Holds at 36 Cents as Spending Tops $19 Billion in FY2025
- Nearly One in Three IRS Employees Left in a Single Year, Watchdog Finds
- From $79.4 Billion to $26 Billion: How Congress Unwound the IRS’s IRA Funding
- CBO: Latest $11.7 Billion IRS Cut Will Forgo $38.6 Billion in Revenue by 2035
- IRS Workforce Cuts Hit Auditors Hardest: 33 Percent of Revenue Agents Gone
FAQs
- How much did it cost the IRS to collect $100 in FY2025? $0.36, unchanged from FY2024 (IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2).
- What was the IRS operating budget in FY2025? $19.0 billion in total obligations (IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-1).
- How much did the IRS collect in FY2025? $5.31 trillion in gross collections (IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2).
- How many people does the IRS employ? It used 95,226 realized FTE positions in FY2025 (IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-2).
- How much IRA money did the IRS get, and how much is left? $79.4 billion originally; $26 billion remained as of January 2026 after $53.5 billion in rescissions (TIGTA 2026-IE-R003).
- Which activity gets the most IRS funding? Enforcement, at $7.15 billion (37.7 percent) in FY2025 (IRS Data Book 2025, Table 6-1).
- How many IRS employees left in 2025? 31,273 separated from January 2025 to January 2026, about 30 percent of the workforce (TIGTA 2026-IE-R009).
- Were IRS layoffs permanent? Formal RIF notices (1,607 employees across two rounds) were cancelled by court orders and those employees returned; most reductions came from voluntary resignation and retirement incentives (TIGTA 2026-IE-R009).
- What is the IRS base budget for FY2026? The President requested $9.83 billion; the enacted level was about $11.2 billion per reporting on Pub. L. No. 119-75 (Treasury/IRS FY2026 Budget in Brief; flagged secondary source).
- What does CBO say about cutting IRS funding? It estimates the $11.7 billion January 2026 rescission will cut revenues by $38.6 billion over FY2026-2035 (CBO, via TIGTA 2026-IE-R003).
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service, Data Book 2025 (Publication 55B), Tables 6-1 and 6-2. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p55b.pdf
- Internal Revenue Service, IRS Budget and Workforce. https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-budget-and-workforce
- Internal Revenue Service, SOI Tax Stats – IRS Budget and Workload. https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-irs-budget-and-workload
- Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Report No. 2026-IE-R009, Snapshot Report: Status of the IRS’s Workforce as of January 2026 (June 9, 2026). https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-06/2026ier009fr.pdf
- Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Report No. 2026-IE-R003, Snapshot: The IRS’s Inflation Reduction Act Spending Through September 30, 2025 (March 2026). https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/2026-03/2026ier003fr.pdf
- Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Report No. 2025-IE-R027, Snapshot Report: IRS Workforce Reductions as of May 2025 (July 2025). https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2025-07/2025ier027fr.pdf
- Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Report No. 2025-IE-R017, Snapshot Report: IRS Workforce Reductions as of March 2025 (May 2025). https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2025-05/2025ier017fr.pdf
- Congressional Budget Office, How Changes in Funding for the IRS Affect Revenues. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60037
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, IRS FY2026 Budget in Brief, Program Summary by Budget Activity. https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/266/13.-IRS-FY2026-BIB.pdf
- U.S. Congress, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Pub. L. No. 119-75). https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7148
Related research
More original, sourced datasets from The Ledgerism Brief:
- America’s Tax Gap Report — $696B gross / $606B net gap for tax year 2022.
- IRS Audit Report + Risk Index — Audit rates by income, entity type, and year.
- IRS Collections & Enforcement Report — Liens, levies, seizures, and criminal investigation.