The IRS canceled its scheduled furlough day for Monday, July 22, acting IRS chief Danny Werfel announced on Tuesday. Instead of closing and sending IRS workers home for a day of unpaid leave, “[t]he IRS will be open for taxpayers that day as scheduled,” he said in a message to IRS employees.
The IRS is also evaluating whether to cancel its last scheduled furlough day on Aug. 30. Werfel attributed the change to “a lot of hard work across the Service to cut costs.”
In April, the IRS announced that it would close all public-facing operations, including toll-free operations and Taxpayer Assistance Centers, on May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22, and Aug. 30, with another two days of closings possible in August or September. The furlough days were scheduled in response to mandatory federal budget cuts from sequestration.
The first three furlough days occurred as scheduled.
— Alistair Nevius ( anevius@aicpa.org ) is the JofA’s editor-in-chief, tax.
