IRS Head, Privacy Chief to Quit After Immigration Data Deal (1)

The acting IRS commissioner and the agency’s privacy chief are leaving their posts on the heels of a clash over a data-sharing agreement that helps the Trump administration’s immigration effort, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Melanie Krause, the acting commissioner, and Kathleen Walters, the chief privacy officer, will take the deferred resignation offer, which was revived again after being offered earlier this year. The deal allows for employees to be on paid administrative leave through Sept. 30. Employees that take the offer will be offboarded as soon as April 28.

Chief Financial Officer Teresa Hunter and Mike Wetklow, the agency’s chief risk officer, are also leaving the IRS, the person said.

The planned exits come after the Treasury Department and Department of Homeland Security signed a memorandum of understanding that said the IRS will give taxpayer data about immigrants to authorities conducting criminal investigations.

The new deal is an abandonment of the IRS’s previous posture of encouraging immigrants to pay their taxes even if they are in the country unlawfully. Fears over how their data could be used could reduce their tax compliance.

Current and former agency officials warned that such cooperation could be illegal. The agency’s acting top lawyer was reassigned to his old position after he was told that allies of Elon Musk viewed him as being uncooperative. He was replaced by a Trump ally.

The agreement has also drawn ire from Democrats and taxpayer advocates who have previously cautioned the IRS over supporting President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport people illegally in the US, and expressed concerns over taxpayer privacy.

Krause will be the third commissioner to leave the agency this year, following former Deputy Commissioner Doug O’Donnell and Commissioner Danny Werfel. She took over as acting commissioner in February and was also selected to serve as deputy commissioner.

Krause’s plan to exit was first reported by The Washington Post.