What impact has the federal government shutdown that went into effect at midnight on October 1 had so far on the IRS?
It has been reported that less than 10% of IRS employees are on the job at present due to the shutdown, and those that are working are for the most part high-level employees that would have been labeled “essential” in the last government shutdown but are now labeled “exempted.”
Because of the shutdown all IRS audit activities have been suspended. Also, if you were to call an IRS office to speak with someone about a tax matter, you would be told via a recorded message that the office is closed due to the government shutdown.
The shutdown is certainly causing pain to a large segment of our population, but a smaller, less active IRS is probably not such a bad thing, at least for the time being.