IRS Shuffles Leadership Roles in Revamp With Fresh Funds

The new structure gives heightened importance to these positions and will provide more flexibility, Werfel said in a press call. This structure is similar to how the Treasury Department and other government offices are organized. It also echos recommendations made in the Taxpayer First Act Report to Congress in January 2021.

Jeff Tribiano, the current deputy commissioner for operations support, signaled to Werfel early this year that he was looking to leave the IRS which “allowed the agency to look at different models for how to proceed,” Werfel said, adding it was an “inspirational moment.” Tribiano will take on a special assignment at the Treasury Department to help with some current budget challenges and once that is complete, he will move to a new Senior Executive Service role in government, the IRS said in an internal email. Krause will serve as acting deputy for operations and support until the new structure is in place.

While Nina Olson, the Executive Director at the Center for Taxpayer Rights agrees with having a single deputy commissioner, she does “worry about the separation of service and compliance into two component organizations,” she said in an email.

“In the past that has led to employees with very different mindsets and cultures,” Olson said. “So we’ll need to see how this plays out.”

The change provides more specialization at the top of the IRS organization chart than the current two deputy commissioner model, Werfel said, and for a majority of IRS employees, their day-to-day work would not be immediately impacted.

The commissioner is “entirely correct” for making the changes to the leadership structure after almost a year at the agency, Former IRS Commissioner and alliantgroup Vice Chairman Mark Everson said. Everson added the second deputy commissioner position to the structure in 2003 following the last major realignment of the agency in 2000.

Werfel is going to have to work hard to continue to get direct input from the division level, Everson said, adding the underlying challenges at the agency still remain.

The IRS will work with committees in Congress and the National Treasury Employees Union as the change progresses. The reorganization will not have any impact on budgetary appropriations and the IRS has started its duty to notify Congress of adjustment, Werfel said.