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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is rolling out a Salesforce artificial intelligence (AI) program across multiple divisions in the wake of a massive workforce reduction earlier this year, according to a report.
The tax collection agency will deploy Agentforce in the Office of Chief Counsel, Taxpayer Advocate Services and the Office of Appeals, Salesforce executive vice president of global public sector solutions Paul Tatum told Axios in a report published Friday.
The announcement comes after the IRS cut its workforce by at least 25% earlier this year as the Trump administration pushed to reduce the size of the federal government.
Tatum said the AI agents are built with “a lot of guardrails” and are not authorized to make “final decisions” or “distribute money.”
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The Internal Revenue Service on February 13, 2025 in Washington, DC (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
“Salesforce does not advocate for the blind AI processes tax returns without a human being involved in reviewing and replenishing it,” he told the outlet.
The program is designed to help overworked IRS employees process customer requests faster and more efficiently, Tatum added.
Tatum said the AI agents are built with “a lot of guardrails” and are not authorized to make “final decisions” or “distribute money.” (/iStock)
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Rob Fitzpatrick, senior counsel at the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, said the agency began modernizing its decades-old systems in 2023. He called the go to AI both inevitable and competitive.
“I think we all have to realize that change is coming,” Fitzpatrick told Axios, adding that the layoffs were likely the result of multiple factors. “Either you adopt the change and make yourself more efficient so you can produce more work, or you don’t – and you leave.”
The American flag flies over the International Revenue Service headquarters in Washington, DC on January 3, 2024 (J. David Ake / Getty Images)
In addition to this year’s layoffs, the IRS said it would also close its operations Office of Civil Rights and Compliancethat handles anti-discrimination protections, audits and investigations. The remaining staff were transferred.
At the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the IRS employed about 100,000 people. About 12,000 have left since then – 7,000 fired during their probationary period and another 5,000 leaving within Trump’s first three months in office.
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In contrast, the Biden administration had previously expanded the IRS’s workforce by about 20,000 to increase the amount of tax revenue generated by the agency.
Daniella Genovese and Eric Revell of Fox Business contributed to this report.
