No, Trump's IRS Hiring Freeze Won't Delay Your Tax Refund — but Not Doing This Could

President Donald Trump marked his return to the White House on Monday with a slew of executive orders, including an indefinite hiring freeze at the IRS. Should you be worried? Maybe not yet, but one simple choice while filing this year might help streamline your filing experience.

Amid the more headline-grabbing moves Trump made on his first day — including a delay of the contentious TikTok ban and the rolling back of clean energy initiatives — he also ordered a hiring freeze across the federal government. This, he claimed, was a cost-saving move while the Elon Musk-fronted advisory body, the Department of Government Efficiency, looks for ways to cut government spending.

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The order had special language reserved for the IRS, making the hiring freeze indefinite. And it came only a week before the start of tax season on Jan. 27, when the agency will start accepting tax returns. On average, the IRS processes about 140 million returns a year and issues refunds averaging around $3,100 apiece, but this freeze on hiring has prompted new concerns that the agency will face difficulties handling the load this year.

Read on to find out if this hiring freeze might impact your tax return. For more on tax season, find out how Direct File has been “enhanced” this year and see if your state has lowered its income tax rate.

What does the hiring freeze mean for the IRS?

The hiring freeze ordered by Trump specifies that “no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, [to] be filled” for 90 days. This period will last past the typical April 15 tax filing deadline, and on top of that, the order singled out the IRS for an indefinite hiring freeze.

“This memorandum shall remain in effect for the IRS until the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of OMB [Office of Management and Budget] and the Administrator of USDS [United States Digital Service], determines that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze,” the order states.

Will the IRS hiring freeze impact my tax return?

If the IRS has any concerns about its ability to process tax returns in the next few months, it hasn’t said so in an official capacity. In a post to LinkedIn, however, Melanie Lauridsen, the vice president for tax policy and advocacy for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, suggested that the freeze should have no significant impact on the IRS’ ability to fill seasonal roles for tax filing season, as that sort of hiring should already have been done.

“There is NO CONCERN for the April 15 tax filing season as far as hiring seasonal employees for the filing season. Seasonal employees should have already been hired and received training to begin working from January through May. The IRS will also reallocate workers from other areas to help cover filing season processing.”

Will my refund be delayed?

Concerns about your potential tax refund will fall under the same umbrella as your return in general, which is to say, the IRS hasn’t commented but it’s looking unlikely at this point that there will be major delays.

Are there any ways I can speed up my tax refund?

For the time being, it seems like you might not need to be concerned about your tax return getting processed in a timely manner this year, but beyond the current situation, there are a few steps you can take to speed up your taxes considerably

For starters, obviously, you can file your return as soon as possible, if that’s something you’re able to do. As mentioned above, the IRS will accept your return as soon as Monday, Jan. 27. This might, however, not be the best choice for you if you want to claim the child tax credit.

Additionally, you can take advantage of the wonders of electronic filing and banking. Choosing to electronically file your return, rather than printing it out and mailing it in, is recommended by the IRS as a method of speeding up your refund. You can also choose to have your refund sent to you as a direct deposit, rather than as a physical check, as a final step to speed things up.





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