Yes, the IRS Really Did Get Approval for Expedited Hiring — Here's How It Works
“The IRS received approval for expedited hiring through September under 'direct hire authority'”
The argument in brief
The claim is true. The IRS received direct hire authority — a legitimate federal tool that bypasses the usual competitive hiring process — following the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which gave the agency roughly $80 billion in new funding. Multiple government sources, including the Office of Personnel Management and the Government Accountability Office, confirm the IRS used this authority to rapidly staff up through fiscal year 2023, with some hiring pushes running through September deadlines.
Why it spread
The IRS is already a politically charged institution, and the Inflation Reduction Act was deeply divisive. Claims about the IRS rapidly hiring tens of thousands of workers fed into genuine anxieties about government overreach and tax enforcement, making people on both sides of the debate eager to share the story — often without the context that direct hire authority is a normal, well-established federal process.
The claim that the IRS received approval for expedited hiring through September under 'direct hire authority' is true. This is a documented federal personnel action, not a rumor or political spin. The IRS was authorized to hire thousands of new employees using a streamlined process that cuts through the normal, slower competitive hiring rules.
Direct hire authority is a standard government tool. The Office of Personnel Management can grant it to any federal agency when there is a critical staffing need or a severe shortage of qualified candidates. It does not mean the agency can hire anyone — applicants still have to meet job qualifications. It just removes some of the bureaucratic steps that typically slow federal hiring down by months.
The trigger here was the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which allocated approximately $80 billion to the IRS over ten years. With that funding came an urgent mandate to rebuild a workforce that had shrunk significantly over the prior decade. The IRS announced plans to fill roles in customer service, tax compliance, and IT. Federal News Network reported on large-scale recruitment events tied to this push, and the National Treasury Employees Union confirmed the scale of the effort, describing targets of tens of thousands of new hires over multiple years.
The Government Accountability Office also weighed in, noting in a report that the IRS was using special hiring authorities to meet aggressive staffing goals. The September timeline referenced in some versions of this claim lines up with fiscal year deadlines that commonly shape federal hiring windows.
This story spread fast because it landed in the middle of a fierce political fight over the Inflation Reduction Act. Critics framed the hiring surge as a dangerous expansion of government enforcement power. Supporters called it long-overdue modernization of an underfunded agency. Both sides amplified the story, which made a straightforward personnel action sound more dramatic than it was. When you see federal hiring news framed as alarming, it's worth checking whether the underlying mechanism — like direct hire authority — is actually routine.
Sources
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
OPM has the authority to grant direct hire authority to federal agencies when there is a severe shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need, bypassing normal competitive hiring procedures.
- IRS Newsroom / Treasury Department
Following the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which provided approximately $80 billion in IRS funding, the IRS was authorized to conduct expedited hiring using direct hire authority to rapidly expand its workforce, with hiring pushes extending through 2023.
- Government Accountability Office (GAO)
GAO reported on IRS workforce planning efforts following the Inflation Reduction Act, noting the agency was using special hiring authorities to meet aggressive staffing targets.
- Federal News Network
The IRS announced plans to hire thousands of new employees using direct hire authority, with recruitment events and streamlined application processes to fill positions in customer service, compliance, and IT through the fiscal year.
- National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU)
NTEU confirmed the IRS was conducting large-scale hiring under direct hire authority, with the agency targeting tens of thousands of new hires over multiple years following the Inflation Reduction Act funding.