With the surprise ouster of the IRS chief last week, agency watchers are eager to know whether the president will choose another wild card or stick with a conventional pick.
Billy Long, President Donald Trump’s most recent choice, lasted just two months at the agency that’s seen an exodus in its leadership ranks.
Long’s removal gives him among the shortest tenures ever for a confirmed IRS head. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead the agency amid a search for a new commissioner, who would be the eighth person to steer the IRS this year.
A former Missouri House Republican, Long had little tax or management experience and his nomination largely stunned the tax world.
Trump’s other top tax appointments—Treasury assistant secretary of tax policy and IRS chief counsel—drew from a pool of people with Republican ties and deep tax experience.
“If they’re going to be a good fit and work well with Treasury leadership and work well with Congress, to me it doesn’t matter where they’re from,” said former Commissioner Danny Werfel, who resigned when Trump indicated he would nominate Long.
Potential Replacements
Trump’s nomination of Donald Korb to be IRS chief counsel suggests he could put an agency veteran at the helm. Korb was the top IRS lawyer from 2004 to 2008 and led the division through its dogfight with accounting firms hawking tax shelters. His Senate Finance Committee hearing hasn’t been scheduled.
Kenneth Kies, assistant secretary for tax policy and acting chief counsel, is another longtime tax figure. He was chief of staff for the Joint Committee on Taxation during the 1990s and chief Republican tax counsel for the House tax-writing committee in the 1980s. Kies spent his private-sector career lobbying to protect tax breaks for private equity and other interests.
Trump could pull from a trio of officials from his first term: David Kautter, former Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy; Michael Desmond, former chief counsel; and former IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. Kautter didn’t respond to a request for comment. Desmond declined to comment for this story.
“Anyone who has had the privilege of serving as the IRS Commissioner well understands the importance of the IRS to the overall success of our country and would feel honored to be asked to serve again,” Rettig said in an email.
Kautter, an RSM partner, had a stint as acting IRS commissioner in 2017 and 2018 and served in Treasury when more than 500 pieces of guidance were issued to implement the GOP tax law.
Rettig, a Chamberlain Hrdlicka shareholder, was at the helm when the IRS went after syndicated conservation easements. The agency calls the arrangements an abusive tax shelter and related fraud cases now make up hundreds of US Tax Court cases. He also led the IRS as it administered pandemic relief.
Desmond is now a tax controversy lawyer at Miller & Chevalier. During the first Trump administration, he led the office that wrote tax law guidance and created strategies for fighting IRS cases in court.
“I would think with all of the changes he wants to institute, he would go with somebody who is more of a manager than a tax lawyer,” Lisa Zarlenga, a Steptoe partner and former Treasury official, said of Trump’s pick.
Ranks of Internal Picks Thinning
The current statutory five-year IRS commissioner term ends in November 2027, and Congress may be reluctant to start a lengthy confirmation process again if lawmakers are unsure that person will stick, said Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union. It took about six months for Long to start at the IRS from when Trump indicated he would be the nominee.
Acting commissioners are typically career officials pulled up from the top of the IRS organizational ranks.
But the executive exits mean it is slimmer pickings for an acting official that will help Trump implement his priorities, which already has driven out multiple acting employees.
Douglas O’Donnell, a 40-year IRS veteran who had multiple runs as acting commissioner, left in February after Trump terminated thousands of probationary employees and is now joining KPMG. About two-thirds of the IRS senior leadership positions are either vacant or also have an acting person.
Michael Faulkender, deputy secretary of the Treasury, briefly served as acting IRS commissioner earlier this year before Long stepped in.
Doreen Greenwald, the national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents thousands of IRS workers said the getting a commissioner committed to the mission will be “a key factor in avoiding backlogs, giving taxpayers quick access to customer service, maintaining productivity, and delivering a successful filing season in 2026.”
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