IRS Commissioner Billy Long Removed After Two Months as Bessent Becomes Acting Chief

Billy Long is out as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service less than two months after the Senate confirmed him, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will run the agency on an acting basis. The change, reported on August 8, 2025, adds another layer of leadership turnover at an agency that is simultaneously implementing a sweeping new tax law and absorbing deep staff cuts.

What changed

The Senate confirmed Long, a former Missouri congressman, on June 12 by a vote of 53-44, according to Roll Call. His tenure ended on Friday, August 8. Long said on social media that he would become ambassador to Iceland, a post for which the president is expected to nominate him. The White House did not publicly detail its reasons for the move.

The Tax Adviser, the AICPA's news publication, reported that Long becomes the shortest-serving confirmed commissioner since the agency was created in 1862. With his departure, the IRS will have had its seventh, and likely eighth, acting or confirmed leader since former commissioner Danny Werfel left in January.

Long's nomination had drawn criticism from Senate Democrats over his past promotion of the pandemic-era employee retention credit and alleged ties to so-called tribal tax credits. His removal came about a week after the president fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Who is affected

Leadership at the top of the IRS rarely changes what an individual return says, but it shapes three things that matter to complex filers: how quickly guidance arrives, where enforcement resources go, and how well the agency answers correspondence.

• Guidance timing. The July reconciliation law created or changed dozens of provisions, from the higher state and local tax deduction cap to new rules on bonus depreciation and research expensing. Business owners and high earners depend on IRS notices and forms to apply those rules with confidence.
• Enforcement priorities. Examination strategy for high-income individuals, partnerships and large estates is set at the leadership level. Frequent turnover makes multiyear initiatives harder to sustain or redirect.
• Service. The agency has cut about 25,000 employees since February, roughly a quarter of its workforce, according to the Tax Adviser. Fewer staff and less continuity at the top can slow responses to notices, amended returns and penalty abatement requests.

The after-tax math

Leadership churn does not change tax rates, but delay has a cost. Example: a family business files an amended return seeking a $200,000 refund. If processing stretches from six months to 18 months, the owners go an extra year without that cash. At an assumed 5% cost of capital, used here for illustration only, that wait is worth roughly $10,000. The IRS generally pays interest on overpayments, but the interest is taxable income, and it may not match what the business could have earned or saved by paying down debt.

The same dynamic applies to disputes. An audit that stalls because of reassigned staff keeps a taxpayer's exposure open longer, and interest on any eventual underpayment keeps accruing.

Moves to discuss with your advisor

• Documentation. With fewer examiners and less continuity, clean records that resolve questions in a single exchange tend to shorten any contact with the agency.
• Electronic channels. Filers with pending correspondence often find that online accounts and practitioner tools move faster than paper.
• Planning around guidance gaps. Where new-law provisions lack IRS guidance, households and business owners may want to discuss with a CPA how conservative a filing position to take and how to disclose it.

What to watch

The immediate questions are who the administration nominates as the next permanent commissioner and how long Bessent serves in the acting role alongside his Treasury duties. Also worth watching: whether the IRS keeps to its schedule for new-law forms for the 2026 filing season, and whether staffing losses begin to show up in slower refunds or narrower audit coverage of high-income returns.

After TAX is an independent publication. Articles are general information, not tax, legal or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional about your situation.