An executive order signed by President Donald Trump regarding IRS hiring should not affect the use of seasonal employees for the tax filing season, an AICPA vice president said Tuesday, Jan. 21.
The IRS likely has already hired and trained those employees to work January through May, Melanie Lauridsen, the AICPA's vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy, said in a LinkedIn post.
In addition, the order gives agencies discretion to reallocate workers "to meet the highest priority needs [and] to maintain essential services."
Lauridsen said the hiring freeze in the executive order merely maintains the freeze that has been in effect since December, when the IRS lost $20 billion in a continuing resolution that Congress passed to keep the government funded. Read more.