IRS can’t fully verify in-person work compliance, IG says

The inspector general for the IRS in a recent report flagged several issues with how the agency is ensuring compliance with President Donald Trump’s in-person work requirement for federal employees. But the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration also emphasized that the number of IRS staffers who report teleworking has declined significantly over the past year. 

On his first day back in office, Trump signed a directive largely ending telework and remote work for the federal workforce. Most IRS employees were required to report for in-person work by March 10, 2025. 

Between March 9 and May 3, 2025, TIGTA found about 70,000 IRS employees worked a total of roughly 2 million daily time charges (i.e. days) in-person. Investigators determined that 89% of those time charges were supported by building access card data. 

IRS officials looked into around 700 employees who consistently reported working in an office without corresponding access card data. They found that, in most cases, the staffer either incorrectly entered their time charges or had issues with their access card, leaving only 30 staffers who appeared to be flouting the return-to-office directive. 

Likewise, the IRS found that employee compliance with such a directive averaged 91% between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2025. In a letter attached to the report, agency officials wrote that recent internal reviews have determined that 93% of in-person work is backed by building access card data. 

Overall, TIGTA found the percentage of IRS employees who reported teleworking decreased from 65% for the pay period ending March 8, 2025, to 25% for the period that concluded on May 3, 2025. 

Still, TIGTA noted several challenges to assessing whether employees are working in-person including: 

• A worker could scan into an office but not spend the entire day working from there. 
• About 4% of IRS staffers were assigned to around 160 buildings that, as of May 14, 2025, did not have access card data. 
• Many IRS employees regularly work outside of an office (e.g. field interviews) and “verifying potential noncompliance is a resource-intensive process that requires manual investigation.” 

The IG recommended that the IRS coordinate with the Treasury Department on setting expectations for continued quarterly monitoring of telework use and finalize the processes and procedures for such evaluation. IRS officials agreed with the recommendations and said they’d be implemented by summer 2026. 

Similarly, the Government Accountability Office reported that the Defense Department in recent years has likely inaccurately reported how many of its civilian employees worked from home because officials were not appropriately recording data on eligibility for telework or remote work.