More than 3,600 IRS workers in Philadelphia are in danger of losing their jobs

Thousands of employees at the Internal Revenue Service in Philadelphia spent the weekend agonizing over whether they’ll lose their jobs as part of the Trump administration’s plan to shrink the federal workforce.

The source of the fresh panic came late Friday in the form of an email that hit the inboxes of more than 3,600 IRS employees at 30th and Market Streets at 4:01 p.m.:

“The IRS has begun implementing a Reduction in Force (RIF) that will result in staffing cuts across multiple offices and job categories,” read the email from the IRS human capital officer. “This action is being taken to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the IRS in accordance with agency priorities.”

The email instructed IRS workers in Philadelphia and nationwide to upload their resumes by April 14 so agency leaders could “determine [their] qualifications.” It included links to tip sheets on resume writing and confidential counseling.

“This is to further punish, humiliate and frighten the employees of the Internal Revenue Service who have done nothing wrong except give their lives in service to the people of the United States of America,” said Alex Jay Berman, executive vice president of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 71, which represents more than 3,600 IRS employees in Philadelphia.

“This is to scare people into running out,” Berman told The Inquirer on Sunday afternoon. Berman provided a reporter with the April 4 email sent to his union members. The email told workers that they shouldn’t consider it “an official notification” of a job cut, but rather “only notification that the IRS has begun the RIF process.”

“Each office will receive direct communication when their phase begins,” the email states.

“This is not an official notification, but it is another dispatch in the war on federal employees,” Berman said.

The White House did not immediately reply to The Inquirer’s emailed request for comment.

News organizations, including CNN and the Washington Post, reported last week that the Trump administration aims to cut roughly 20 to 25% of the IRS workforce — purging some 20,000 employees — through layoffs and buyouts.

Government workers in virtually every federal agency are facing massive layoffs as part of a cost-cutting initiative under President Donald Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In Pennsylvania, federal agencies employ more than 103,000 workers, or about 1.7% of the total workforce, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On Saturday, millions of people took part in protests against Trump and Musk across all 50 states. In Philadelphia, thousands marched down Market Street in the “Hands Off!” demonstration to express anger over everything from cuts in federal jobs and funding for academic research to DEI rollbacks and volatile financial markets in the wake of Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Berman, the Chapter 71 union leader, said he spent the weekend fielding questions from panicked IRS workers who received the “Reduction in Force (RIF)” email: Are we definitely going to get RIF-ed? Are we going to lose our retirement? Are we going to be forced to take the deferred resignation? Aren’t they really just trying to close out the IRS?

In February, the IRS terminated more than 400 probationary Philadelphia-area workers, who generally had been in their jobs for about a year or less. The Trump administration alleged poor performance, although their supervisors hadn’t raised concerns. However, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, stating that the Trump administration had no authority to fire those employees.

Those workers, Berman said, were scheduled to return to the office on April 14 — the deadline for all IRS employees to upload their resumes through the government internet portal.

“Is this their backdoor way of screwing them?,” Berman said about the 400 reinstated workers.

News of IRS job cuts come just before the April 15 deadline to file a federal income tax return or request an extension, and a recent report by the nonpartisan Budget Lab at Yale University found that slashing workers at an agency that collects nearly all federal revenue would mean less revenue. While cutting 18,200 IRS jobs would save $1.4 billion, the reduced staff would generate $8.3 billion less in tax revenue in 2026.

The IRS staff at 30th and Market Streets already struggles to answer calls from taxpayers in a timely manner, and cuts to staff could exacerbate the problem, Berman said.

“We know everyone hates the IRS. We don’t like paying taxes,” Berman said, “but if you want an infrastructure to exist, if you want our armed forces to be supplied and paid, if you want our borders to be safe, … we have to be allowed to do the work for the American people."

Staff writer Ariana Perez-Castells contributed to this report.