Donald Trump names fifth person to lead IRS this year
President Donald Trump’s administration again is replacing the acting IRS commissioner as turmoil at the agency continues.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender is taking over as acting commissioner, according to a Treasury spokesperson. He replaces Gary Shapley, who only recently got the job.
“Trust must be brought back to the IRS, and I am fully confident that Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender is the right man for the moment,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. The IRS is part of the Treasury Department.
The shakeup at the tax collecting agency stems from a clash between Bessent and Elon Musk, according to reports. Musk, the billionaire Trump adviser who has been pursuing dramatic workforce reductions at the IRS through the Department of Government Efficiency, pushed to have Shapley as acting commissioner, prompting Bessent to complain about interference at an agency his department oversees, according to the New York Times.
A former IRS criminal investigator, Shapley accused President Joe Biden’s Justice Department of slowing the investigation into the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
Bessent praised Shapley in his statement and said he “remains among my most important senior advisors.”
Faulkender will be the fifth person to lead the IRS this year. Shapley took over for Melanie Krause, who departed from the job after the agency agreed to share tax information with federal immigration agents to help them find immigrants in the United States illegally. Acting Commissioner Doug O'Donnell left last month.
The controversial agreement between the IRS and Homeland Security is among a number of moves roiling the IRS, which has begun laying off thousands of workers as DOGE pushes mass terminations across the federal government
DOGE also has sparked data privacy and security concerns by seeking access to internal IRS computer systems with vast amounts of sensitive data.
Contributing: Trevor Hughes