New commissioner confident IRS can implement OBBBA’s tax provisions

New IRS Commissioner Billy Long told tax practitioners Monday that he has no doubt that agency employees will be able to implement the tax provisions of H.R. 1, P.L. 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

In a question-and-answer session at the 2025 Tax Summit of the National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA) in Salt Lake City, Long did not address the loss of 25,000 IRS employees since February. When asked about implementing the OBBBA, Long credited Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender with having the right people in place to “break apart different parts, sections of the bill.”

These employees know what they are doing, he said. “And I’m like Teddy Roosevelt … hire good people, let them do the work, and have the good common sense to stay out of their way,” he said.

Long and Faulkender meet weekly to discuss implementation of the OBBBA because “we have to get this right,” he said. “And just like last tax season … they’ll get it done.”

The 2026 filing season should start around Presidents Day, Long said, which is Feb. 16 next year. That mid-February start date is later than recent years, when filing season opened in late January or early February.

Long said he pushed for an earlier date but said that IRS staff wanted more preparation time. He was told staff would “need every day in there. But they have this thing down.”

During his remarks, which the NAEA described as his first “out in the tax practitioner world” since he took office, Long expressed an interest in the IRS being more efficient with audits.

“I don’t care about Direct File,” Long said. “I care about direct audit.”

Direct File is a free, online pilot program that over 140,000 taxpayers in 12 states used during the five weeks it was widely available in 2024. While Long said the OBBBA “wiped out” Direct File, the law instead directs the IRS to study how to replace the program.

For example, someone under audit should be able to easily find out where their audit stands and which IRS employee is handling it. That will require upgrades to the IRS information technology systems, Long said, which would mean that “the operators will not have to stay on the phone with the people nearly as long,” he said.

“For 35 years, the IRS has been five years from modernization,” Long said, attributing the quote to Faulkender. But now, Bessent and Faulkender are “on top of it” and “everybody’s going to benefit,” he said.

Long, a former Missouri congressman, was confirmed as commissioner by the Senate in June.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Martha Waggoner at Martha.Waggoner@aicpa-cima.com.