Tax season is underway, but with Elon Musk having influence over the Treasury Department as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), there's some confusion surrounding tax

The tax agency is laying off 7,000 employees, but there are protections for taxpayers whose refund payments are delayed.

The Trump administration reportedly started to lay off nearly 7,000 new workers from the IRS on Thursday, including many who work in enforcement. A day earlier, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News that Trump’s goal is to “abolish” the IRS and replace its tax revenue with tariff cash.

A tearful executive at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service told staffers on Thursday that about 6,000 employees would be fired.

President Donald Trump has called on the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk, to be "more aggressive." As head of DOGE, Musk has swiftly implemented a series of spending cuts across various federal departments,

Elon Musk’s move-fast-and-break-things ethos has served him well so far in his efforts to demolish the federal bureaucracy. But now comes the moment the billionaire leading President Donald Trump’s DOGE initiative may not be prepared for — managing the politics of his sprawling cuts.

The Elon Musk-lead Department of Government Efficiency is seeking unprecedented access to an IRS system, which holds a number of highly private tax information on millions of American citizens.

It's the first indication that some Republican lawmakers may field challenges from voters over Elon Musk's massive changes.