President Donald Trump is replacing Billy Long as commissioner of the IRS less than two months after his confirmation, a White House official confirmed to The Epoch Times.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting commissioner.
Long confirmed on social media that he will be the ambassador to Iceland.
“It is [an] honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland,” Long said in an X post. “I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead!”
Since Danny Werfel stepped down earlier this year, several acting commissioners have served.
Doug O'Donnell, who was the first successor to Werfel, retired in February. Melanie Krause, a career government official at the IRS and Government Accountability Office, accepted the position and resigned in April. Gary Shapley, a career IRS agent, was then selected but was shortly removed from the position.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender was the acting commissioner until the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Long.
Trump nominated Long in December 2024. Long was confirmed by the Senate in a 53—44 vote. He was sworn in on June 16.
The confirmation process was a contentious one, as Democrats in the upper chamber established an inquiry shortly after the president’s announcement.
Democratic lawmakers highlighted Long’s lack of professional background in accounting, law, and taxes. Additionally, critics pointed to Long, a former Republican representative from Missouri who served from 2011 to 2023, possessing a history of sponsoring legislation that aimed to abolish the Internal Revenue Service.
The Tax Code Termination Act was introduced in January 2017 to eliminate the current tax code, retaining only self-employment and retirement taxes. It did not reach the House floor for a vote.
Every Democrat in the Senate voted against Long’s confirmation.
Meanwhile, the current administration has proposed trimming the IRS budget.
In May, the White House released a “skinny budget” that outlined $2.5 billion in annual cuts to the IRS, with a focus on staffing reductions and IT modernization.
Bessent, appearing in a March 20 interview with Fox News, stated that U.S. officials are trying to make the tax-collecting agency “more efficient.”
Special interests and others “just want to blow this project out of the water,“ Bessent said. ”This is the opposite of government efficiency, not elimination, not extinction.”
Treasury special adviser Sam Corcos, appearing with Bessent on Fox, said IRS modernization is “currently 30 years behind schedule and it’s already $15 billion over budget.” Corcos said the IRS is relying on “legacy infrastructure” that includes “old mainframes running COBOL and Assembly.”
At a June 11 House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Bessent stated that officials have been making improvements and cutting costs at the IRS.
“Critics of the President’s efforts to modernize the IRS warned that the effort would result in a 10 percent shortfall in receipts,” Bessent said in prepared remarks.
“Instead, the opposite happened. April receipts this year were up 9.5 percent over the previous year. And receipts in May were up 14.7 percent over the previous year. Most remarkably, the President was able to achieve these results while reducing $2 billion in waste and planned IT spending at the IRS.”
According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the IRS workforce has experienced a 25 percent reduction as of May.
The report, published in July, determined that more than 25,000 employees separated, accepted the deferred resignation program, or used another incentive to leave.
