IRS furloughs nearly half its workforce as shutdown persists

The Internal Revenue Service will furlough nearly half of its workforce on Wednesday as the federal government shutdown entered its second week, the agency said, leaving most IRS operations closed and about 39,870 employees working under an updated contingency plan posted to the agency website. The move follows a failure by the White House and Congress to agree on funding for federal operations.

The IRS said the furlough will begin Oct. 8 for all employees except those designated as excepted or exempt. Those who are not exempt will be placed in a nonpay, nonduty status and given up to four hours to close out work and receive formal furlough notification, the agency letter said. Acting IRS human capital officer David Traynor confirmed in the standard furlough notice that furloughed employees cannot work and will not be paid during the lapse in appropriations, but said they must be compensated on the earliest date possible after the lapse ends.

The agency’s earlier Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan provided for the first five business days of a shutdown, during which some operations would remain open using funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. With the shutdown continuing,...