Government Shutdown
14,000 IRS workers didn't report to work this week despite orders to continue without pay
At least 14,000 unpaid Internal Revenue Service workers did not report to work this week, despite receiving an order from the Trump administration to do so as tax filing season looms, The Washington Post reports.
The employees who failed to show up to work were part of the division that includes tax processing and call centers, per the Post. The call centers, which answer taxpayer questions on the phone, were only answering 35 percent of calls. The IRS hopes to answer 80 percent during filing season, the Post reports.
More than 30,000 IRS employees have been ordered to come back to work unpaid. The processing division is set to miss their second straight paycheck this week, and some employees have said they are now unable to get to work or pay for childcare, per the Post.
The IRS called back around 60 percent of its furloughed workers earlier this month after the White House announced that the agency would still send out tax returns if the shutdown continued. Tax filing season officially begins on Jan. 28.