IRS Acting Director Replaced by Deputy Treasury Secretary Days After Appointment

Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent said he will ensure former acting director Gary Shipley will continue to work in the senior government role.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent confirmed Friday that the Trump administration replaced the IRS’ representative director and replaced Gary Shapley with Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender.

“The trust has to be brought back to the IRS. I’m totally certain that Faulkender is the right person for now,” Bessent wrote in X’s post.

After Shapley and another official, Joseph Ziegler, concluded the ongoing investigation, the administration “sures that they are both in the role of senior governments to enable their findings to be translated into meaningful policy changes,” Bessent added.

Shapley, who was appointed proxy IRS director earlier this week, said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) slowed through the Hunter Biden investigation, especially when he was a former IRS criminal investigator. He provided whistleblower testimony to bring Republicans to the House of Representatives as he allegedly failed to proceed with the Justice Department’s investigation because he was the son of then-President Joe Biden.

Former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), whose choice is to lead the IRS, is still waiting for confirmation in the GOP-controlled Senate. Meanwhile, Faulkender was confirmed earlier this year in the Senate to become deputy director under Bessent after previously working in the first Trump administration.

“We are working to bring prosperity for the American people and support the economic rebroadcast, national security through economic security, and the President’s first agenda,” Faulkender said in a statement at the time.

Earlier on Friday, an anonymous official claimed that Shapley would leave, and he would be replaced by Falkender. Bescent did not address the claims in reports that his replacement was part of the behind-the-scenes division between his secretary and Trump advisor Elon Musk, as he failed to address the reason Shapley was replaced by Fallkender.

Trump chose Shapley on Tuesday after former interim chief Melanie Kraus left. Melanie Kraus left the tax revenue agency after signing a contract to share data with federal agents on illegal immigration in the United States.

The move comes days after the April 15 deadline expires for millions of Americans to file their 2024 tax returns, and the agency issued a statement Friday that its whistleblower office had created its first operating plan.

“The operational plan for the IRS whistleblower office incorporates extensive feedback received from whistleblowers, whistleblowers, IRS employees, watchdogs and other program stakeholders,” John Hinman, director of the IRS office, said in a statement. “The whistleblower information that the IRS can do is a key component of effective tax management as it strengthens our fair, efficient and effective enforcement of our tax laws, the success of our voluntary tax systems, and efforts to reduce tax gaps.”

Reuters contributed to this report.