The percentage of IRS employees working from home dropped from 65% to 25% following President Trump’s Return to In-Person Work directive issued on January 20, 2025. A TIGTA report highlighted that as of May 2025, around 70,000 IRS employees logged approximately 2m daily time charges for in-person work. However, 11% of these charges lacked corresponding access card data, raising concerns about accuracy. John Pekarik, acting chief of facilities management and security services at the IRS, noted: “More recent internal reviews have found that 93% of in-person work is supported by building access card data.” The IRS is working on improving its tracking systems and has agreed to recommendations from the report to enhance monitoring of telework use. Media reports indicated that the return-to-office process was chaotic, with employees facing shortages of basic supplies.
