Trump Treasury confirms it's eyeing IRS for 'streamlining' shake-up as tax season heats up

"In line with the Trump administration's focus on efficiency and deficit reduction, the Treasury Department is considering a wide range of possible streamlining initiatives," a Treasury spokesperson told Fox News Digital Wednesday afternoon. 

"While no plan has been approved to date, modernization is necessary to keep up with the process by which Americans file their taxes, including the reality that over 90% of individual tax returns are filed electronically," the spokesperson continued. "These changes are aimed at improving taxpayer customer service and ensuring a smooth and successful filing season." 

The Treasury Department spokesperson spoke to Fox News Digital amid reports that up to half of the IRS' roughly 90,000-person staff could be terminated.

Thousands of employees across various agencies - including the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Energy - have been terminated as the Trump administration works to slim down the federal government and realign its agencies with Trump's "America First" policies. Agencies notably have terminated probationary employees who have not yet achieved full-time employment with the federal government as they are recent hires or were just reassigned to a new role within the government.

So far, the IRS has already terminated roughly 7,000 probationary employees. 

"On day one, I immediately halted the hiring of any new IRS agents," Trump said during a rally at Circa Resort & Casino Las Vegas in January. "They hired, or tried to hire, 88,000 new workers to go after you. And we're in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we'll move them to the border. And I think we're going to move them to the border."

"Where they're allowed to carry guns, you know, they're so strong on guns, but these people are allowed to carry guns, so we'll probably move them to the border," he continued. 

Certain special IRS agents are permitted to carry firearms as part of their duties, according to IRS Code, 26 U.S. Code § 7608. 

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who signed the letter, said Trump directed her agency to "take all appropriate action to supplement available personnel to secure the southern border and enforce the immigration laws of the United States," even through use of the agency's authority to deputize federal employees to perform immigration functions.

The Treasury Department's efforts to streamline the IRS come amid tax season, with the federal government expecting Americans' individual income tax returns to be submitted by April 15. 

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.