Some functions at the IRS remain open during the shutdown.

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Due to the government shutdown—now in its third week—IRS operations are limited. Despite the need to prepare for the upcoming tax filing season—with new tax laws like no tax on tips in place—the IRS has furloughed about half of its employees. That means that some operations, like Criminal Investigation, remain open while others, like Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) are closed.

Here’s what you need to know.

Do I Need To File My Taxes?

Yes. You must continue to file taxes as normal. All tax deadlines remain in effect, including those covering individuals, corporations, partnerships and employers.

Will My Tax Return Be Processed?

It depends. You can still file your tax return electronically or on paper –– although the processing of paper returns will be delayed until full government operations resume.

Will Tax Refunds Be Paid?

Not necessarily. The IRS has confirmed that tax refunds will generally not be paid during the shutdown with one exception—if you file a Form 1040, the IRS will continue to pay refunds on e-filed, error-free tax returns that can be automatically processed and direct deposited.

Do I Need To Pay My Tax Bill?

Yes. Even if the IRS won’t pay you, you need to pay the IRS.

The IRS will continue to accept and process any payments and remittances received, whether received electronically or by mail. That includes payments accompanying paper tax returns.

There is no grace for late payments—due dates for paying your tax remain firmly in place.

Will The IRS Open Its Mail?

While the IRS will be able to receive mail and deposit tax payments received, the agency generally will not be responding to paper correspondence.

If you mail in correspondence to the IRS during the shutdown, you should expect a longer delay for a response after full government operations resume due to a growing correspondence backlog.

Will Someone At The IRS Answer The Phone?

The IRS says that “l(fā)imited” live IRS telephone customer service assistance will be available. That appears to be the case—taxpayers and tax practitioners are both reporting difficulty getting through to an IRS representative on the phone. I can report that the Practitioner Priority Service (PPS) hotline—the line that tax professionals can call directly—is answering calls, but generally, if you don’t call early, your chances of getting through are pretty slim.

Most automated toll-free telephone applications will remain operational. Automated telephone applications typically include the Where’s My Refund? line (800.829.1954) which allows taxpayers to check the status of their federal income tax refund (I called, it is operational, even though refunds are limited) and the transcript hotline which can be used to have your tax transcript mailed to you.

Can I Get In-Person Assistance?

No. IRS walk-in Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) will be closed. All TAC appointments are cancelled until the government reopens.

What If I Have An Appointment Scheduled With Appeals Or The Taxpayer Advocate?

No need to do anything—if you have an appointment related to the Independent Office of Appeals or Taxpayer Advocate Service cases, it will be cancelled. IRS personnel will reschedule those meetings when the government reopens.

What If I Have A Tax Court Trial Scheduled?

Also cancelled—at least for the next few weeks. The Tax Court has posted the following information on its website: “Due to the ongoing impact of the federal Government shutdown, the United States Tax Court has determined it is appropriate to cancel all in-person and remote trial sessions for the weeks of October 20, 2025, and October 27, 2025. A decision regarding the cancelation of future weeks of trial will be made and announced via the Tax Court website no later than one week before the commencement of those sessions.”

Will The Taxpayer Advocate Stay Open?

No. While dozens of employees have stayed on with the Taxpayer Advocate Service in some capacity during the shutdown—including Erin Collins (the National Taxpayer Advocate) and 75 local advocates and various support workers— the TAS has posted a notice on its website that it will be closed: “Please be aware that due to the lack of an approved federal budget, all Taxpayer Advocate Service offices across the country are closed. No staff will be available to assist you during this time.”

Can I Get Online Assistance?

Yes-ish. The IRS website, www.IRS.gov, will remain available, along with some of the automated tools on the site, including Where’s My Refund, the IRS2go phone app and online payment agreements.

What About Income Verification?

The IRS Income Verification Express Service (IVES) will remain available. IVES lets taxpayers authorize mortgage lenders, banks and others to request their tax return or wage transcripts for income verification. The IRS provides tax records to a third party only with the consent of the taxpayer.

Can I Get My Tax Transcript?

The IRS encourages you to use automated tools to get transcript information (again, anecdotally, it’s worth noting that returns and other information received during the shutdown may not be automatically updated on transcripts).

If you can’t access a transcript through the automated tools, you can try calling the IRS. Tax professionals who can’t access transcripts through the online tool can call PPS and request that they be uploaded to a secure mailbox, but again, calling can be challenging.

The IRS has indicated that it will be processing transcript requests related to disaster relief.

Will The IRS Process My Application For Tax-Exempt Status?

No. The IRS will not process applications or determinations for tax-exempt status or pension plans during the shutdown.

Will IRS Enforcement Work Continue?

Yes. IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) work will continue during the shutdown, as will compliance work related to protecting statutes of limitations. CI will operate at nearly “normal” levels since federal courts, prosecutors, and law enforcement partners continue to work as usual.

How Many IRS Workers Remain On The Job?

According to the 162-page IRS contingency plan, about half—34,429 of the total employee population of 74,299—of the IRS workforce will be furloughed. The remaining 39,870 non-furloughed employees are those who will perform shutdown duties, as well as those necessary to perform activities implied by law and to protect life and property. You may recall from my previous reporting that the law allows the IRS to process tax returns with taxpayer payments to protect those dollars.

Will The Next Tax Season Be Delayed?

So far, the IRS hasn’t indicated that there will be any delay in getting ready for next tax season.

Some Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) will stay on the job. That includes approximately 3,500 new hire CSRs who will be onboarded between September 22 and November 3. According to the IRS, it’s “critical they remain in training during a shutdown if they are to be ready for filing season.” This will require approximately 420 instructors, 35 managers, and the new hires, totaling 3,955 exempt employees.

And so far, guidance is rolling out—slowly, but it’s happening.

Have We Seen This Before?

In 2018, the government shutdown lasted 35 days, the longest in history. By the time it resumed, the IRS was weeks behind schedule in training and hiring new staff for the 2019 tax season. At the time, the National Taxpayer Advocate advised House officials that it would take “at least a year” for the IRS to return to normal operations.

Why so long? When the lights came back on, the IRS had a backlog of five million unanswered pieces of mail. At the height of the shutdown, the IRS was receiving more than 700,000 pieces of mail per day. Since in-person taxpayer assistance centers, fax lines, and phone systems were closed, taxpayers and tax professionals were forced to send all requests—even routine requests—by U.S. Mail.

The IRS and the rest of the government turned the lights back on January 25, 2019. The agency was already underfunded when operations resumed—there were no additional hands on deck. If the IRS reassigned workers from other departments to process the mail at a rate of 20,000 more letters per day—meaning that they would be removed from other tasks—the agency assumed they would be able to tackle the mail backlog alone in 250 business days, or roughly, a full calendar year.

The Shutdown So Far

The 2025 U.S. government shutdown officially started just after midnight on October 1, 2025, after Congress failed to pass a spending resolution. That date—October 1, 2025—was important because September 30, 2025, marked the end of the fiscal year. Without a plan in place, government funding expired.

A shutdown typically means that federal agencies do not have the funding to continue to keep the lights on. However, according to the first version of the 2026 Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan released by the IRS on September 29, 2025, the agency used money from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—to remain open for the first five days of the shutdown. On October 8, 2025, the IRS issued a second version of the 2026 Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan (you can read more about that here.)

What’s Next

As noted earlier, this situation remains very fluid. Even with a contingency plan in place (you can find the full text of the plan here), changes may still occur.

Check back with the Forbes tax team for updates as they become available.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2025/10/21/whats-open-and-whats-not-at-the-irs-during-the-government-shutdown/

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