The Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, is the main revenue-collection agency of the U.S. government. The commissioner oversees an agency that is key in gathering income taxes that the government uses for its vast multi-trillion-dollar budget to pay its federal employees, provide key services, and fund the military.
With the dismissal of the IRS chief by President Trump in early August 2025, the agency's management is up in the air, and the Treasury Secretary is currently serving as acting commissioner on an interim basis.
Pay for the IRS commissioner is among the highest in public office.
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How much does an IRS commissioner make?
The IRS commissioner's salary is listed as ES Level 3 on the Executive Schedule for top government officials. The 2025 Level 3 annual pay is $207,500, up 13% from 2020. By comparison, the Treasury Secretary, whom the IRS commissioner reports to, makes $250,600 at Level 1 pay.
Still, pay is above the median American salary of about $62,000 — a figure that is based on weekly pay data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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What does the IRS commissioner do?
The Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, as it was known then, was created under the Revenue Act of 1862, “for the purpose of assessing, levying, and collecting the duties or taxes” prescribed within the act. The IRS operates under the Department of the Treasury.
Now, the commissioner has tremendous responsibility in implementing Trump’s latest tax changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025. The law, signed in July, has a significant effect on federal taxes, credits, and deductions — including no taxes on tips and overtime pay, and new deductions for senior citizens. At the same time, certain tax rates, such as the corporate tax rate at 21%, remained as they were under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 during Trump’s first term in office.
The commissioner oversees a large number of employees, among the largest by agency, but faces challenges with a diminished workforce due to reductions in federal manpower. The IRS had about 77,500 full-time employees as of July 2025, down from a peak of 103,000 in January 2025, due to employees taking early retirement and incentives to leave.
The IRS — which operates on an annual budget of $18 billion — collected $3.3 trillion in individual and business income taxes, before refunds, in 2024. Still, with some tax rates remaining lower than they were prior to the 2017 tax cuts, the government faces budget deficits in the years to come.
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Why was Billy Long fired? Who is the current commissioner of the IRS?
The current commissioner of the IRS is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He serves in an interim capacity after Billy Long — an auctioneer and a former Republican Representative from Missouri — was fired by Trump on Aug. 8, 2025.
Long was appointed the 51st commissioner of the IRS and had only served for less than two months. His dismissal was due to the agency not releasing information on taxpayers suspected of being in the U.S. illegally so that the Department of Homeland Security could use that data to track them down, according to The Guardian newspaper.
Long’s dismissal is the second of a head of an agency in August. On Aug. 1, Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for releasing employment data that some critics viewed as unfavorable for the administration.
The incoming IRS commissioner will have to contend with the agency doing more or less the same amount of work but with a reduced workforce.
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