If you work in federal service or just follow government news, you probably heard that the IRS recently told around 20,000 of its customer service employees to return to the office full-time. This move was part of a larger push to end long-running telework arrangements, especially as federal agencies face increasing pressure to bring workers back to office desks five days a week.
But here is the thing—when these workers were set to show up this week, there was a major problem.
What went wrong with the IRS return-to-office plan?
Simply put, there were not enough desks. Imagine showing up for your first day back in the office after years of working from home, only to find out that there is no spot for you to work. That is exactly what happened for many IRS workers.
Here are the key problems that caused the chaos:
- IRS underestimated space needs. Some buildings do not have enough physical space to accommodate everyone.
- Facilities were not fully prepared. Workers were told they might have to work from conference rooms or interview spaces temporarily.
- Late notice. Many employees found out on Sunday that they were no longer required to come in on Monday, which led to a lot of confusion.
How are employees reacting to the desk shortage?
The response has not been great. According to Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, this situation could have been avoided. She said in a statement:
“This is to minimize impact to taxpayers during the filing season. These employees can continue telework temporarily while the IRS finds enough appropriate workspaces for all of them to report to the worksite each day.”
The union has been warning for months that forcing people back into the office without the right setup could be chaotic—and that is exactly what happened. Greenwald also described the rollout of the return-to-office order as “chaotic and disruptive.”
What is causing the lack of space at the IRS?
This is not just about one or two buildings being too small. The IRS has grown a lot in recent years. Thanks to funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, the agency expanded from about 80,000 workers in 2021 to over 100,000 in 2024.
At the same time:
- Some IRS buildings were never designed to hold this many people at once.
- A lot of employees have been working remotely since the 1990s, so the agency simply did not keep all buildings office-ready.
In a memo to staff, IRS leaders admitted that there would be space issues and that workers might be assigned to “nonstandard workspaces” until a more permanent fix is found.
How does this affect you, the taxpayer?
This desk shortage is not just an internal HR mess—it might affect you directly. Why? Because it is happening during peak tax season. If you have tried calling the IRS before, you already know how long the wait times can be. Now, with confusion over workspaces and who is actually in the office, those waits might get even longer.
Here is what tax experts are warning:
- Call center performance might drop.
- Wait times could increase.
- Delays in resolving taxpayer issues could follow.
And to make things more complicated, the IRS is also under a hiring freeze and has already begun laying off employees—over 7,000 so far, according to recent reports. Some projections suggest that the agency could eventually cut its workforce by half.
What happens next for the IRS and its workers?
Right now, the return-to-office mandate is on hold. Workers will keep working remotely until the agency figures out how to fit everyone into its buildings. No one knows how long that will take.
For now, the IRS has stayed mostly quiet. There has been no official statement on when or how the space issue will be resolved. In the meantime, if you need help from the IRS, be prepared for delays—again.
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