Fewer Employees, More Tax Liens, and Zero Human Review
At the start of the 2026 tax filing season, the IRS had 74,000 employees. A year earlier, it had 102,000. That's a 27% reduction, according to National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins' report to Congress.
And the current administration's target is around 50,000. The Yale Budget Lab says the IRS hasn't operated at that staffing level since the 1960s.
So what happens when you cut a quarter of the workforce at the agency responsible for enforcing the tax code for 330 million people?
You automate.
Here are three things every CPA, attorney, and financial advisor needs to understand about how IRS staffing cuts are changing tax enforcement right now.
1. Lien filings are climbing while the workforce is shrinking
The IRS filed over 214,000 Notices of Federal Tax Lien in fiscal year 2025. That's a 9% increase from the prior year and a 36% rise from 2022. And we're still only at about half of pre-COVID levels. Before the pandemic, the IRS was filing 400,000 to 500,000 liens per year, but the gap is closing.
2. Automation is replacing human judgment in collection decisions
Going back to 1980, a Revenue Officer used to make a personal, thoughtful decision on every single lien filing. Someone reviewed the taxpayer's situation and decided whether a lien was appropriate.
Today, when you owe more than $10k, the system runs on its own. No decision-making necessary. That threshold was $5,000 until the IRS raised it to $10,000 in 2011. Nina Olson, the former National Taxpayer Advocate who served in that role for 18 years and now runs the Center for Taxpayer Rights, is concerned.
"As we see lien filing increase out of the COVID aftermath, we have fewer employees in collection and fewer experienced management and supervisors to be able to look at this and make these discretionary decisions."
During her tenure, Olson found that automatic lien filing harms taxpayers' ability to pay, increases the risk of additional debts, and decreases earning capacity.
According to the IRS, "Automated enforcement activity is a carefully managed process."
3. The collateral damage from a lien is severe, and it's landing on people who aren't willful tax evaders
Once a Notice of Federal Tax Lien is filed, it's public. Lenders and creditors can see it. Olson called it "a kiss of death for a lot of things." Financing dries up. Mortgages, refinancing, and no lender wants to approve revolving credits because they don't want to stand behind the IRS in line.
Employers in government, finance, or security clearance positions may pass on applicants or terminate workers over a filed lien.
Keith Fogg, who founded the Tax Litigation Clinic at Harvard and spent over 30 years at the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, made his opinion clear: "Just because they file a lien doesn't mean they'll get the money." The lien doesn't collect the debt. It just makes the taxpayer's financial life dramatically harder while the balance remains.
What's the underlying message for your clients?
Don't wait.
Liens are starting up again and they longer they wait to resolve their tax debts, the more likely they'll get hit with a lien.
TL;DR
⏩ IRS staffing dropped 27% in one year (102,000 to 74,000) with a target of 50,000, a level not seen since the 1960s.
⏩ Despite fewer employees, lien filings rose to 214,000+ in FY2025, up 36% from 2022.
⏩Most liens over $10,000 are now filed automatically with no human review.
⏩ Former NTA Nina Olson warns that fewer staff means more automated enforcement and less discretion.
⏩ Liens are public, destroy credit, block mortgages, and can cost people their jobs.
Want to understand your options before you call anyone?
Download my free book — Freedom From Tax Debt — a plain-language guide to how the IRS collections process actually works and what resolution really looks like.
➥ Contact Attorney Stephen A. Weisberg for a free Tax Debt Analysis.
Contact Me Here: https://www.weisberg.tax/contact-1
Email: s.weisberg@weisberg.tax
Phone/Text: (248) 971-0885
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