Bessent's Term as Acting IRS Commissioner Expires • TaxProf Blog

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s 210-day stint as Acting IRS Commissioner expired in early March 2026. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act precludes Bessent from continuing in that specific temporary role.

The IRS says that there will be more continuity than change, however. On March 13, 2026, a news release clarified leadership responsibilities at the IRS going forward. According to this release, Bessent, as Treasury Secretary, has the authority “to perform the functions and duties” of IRS Commissioner while that role remains vacant.

Is this arrangement a victory for small government, or a sign of uncertainty at the height of filing season? The more important question may be whether or how the arrangement affects the IRS and Treasury’s guidance projects going forward. Commentary and coverage, below the fold.

Bessent’s acting appointment and its expiration fit within larger questions of role definition that have surrounded the second Trump Administration’s personnel decisions—and how muddled roles affect the Administration’s bandwidth to generate policy. The IRS expects its work to continue “without interruption, with Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano successfully leading day-to-day operations and reporting directly to the Secretary.” Bisignano, of course, faced harsh critiques from both the left and right after his March 4 testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee.

In a March 9 letter, Senate Democrats Ron Wyden, Chuck Schumer, and Elizabeth Warren objected to continuing without a Senate-confirmed appointee at IRS. According to these Senators, “[l]eadership churn at the IRS has been extreme,” with many positions vacant or filled by temporary appointments—a situation that has persisted for months. Moreover, “[t]he same pattern” may emerge when Ken Kies’s term as Acting IRS Chief Counsel expires in June 2026. Kies serves concurrently as Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy—with Senate confirmation for that post along party lines.

The stakes of effective leadership are high. On the front lines, taxpayer service and enforcement may fail to meet filers’ expectations, and any discontent may temper any good feelings that flow from higher refunds in the OBBBA transition period. But churn among rank-and-file employees may prove more meaningful in these contexts, and there are many potential causes for a less-effective (or differently effective) IRS going forward. From this perspective, unfilled positions are a data point—and perhaps evidence of a policy principle—rather than a primary lever to shape administration.

More important, however, are IRS leadership’s effects on subregulatory guidance, as well as the ways that guidance intersects with Treasury’s formal regulatory projects. Centralizing oversight in a few individuals may have advantages, but, to the extent that officials’ attention is divided across multiple high-level roles, there’s also risk of slow, incomplete, or uncoordinated policy development. Tax law is complex, and there’s a lot of cognitive load associated with keeping all of the details in mind for an issue or project. For Bessent, Bisignano, and Kies, their multiple hats must weigh heavily, regardless of their energy, expertise, and ability.

That’s why the current—and, in all likelihood, continuing—leadership vacuum is somewhat surprising. The OBBBA made sprawling changes that require guidance that conventional Republican constituencies would like to see. Guidance issued by this Administration will set the trajectory for CAMT and the SbS package, potentially for decades. Any spring or summer reconciliation bill may contain tax law changes that drive further demands for guidance. And the Trump Administration’s efforts to shape formal and informal guidance appear to have been successful politically.

While there may be a deeper logic to the reduction in resources created by a multiple-hats strategy, any such logic has practical limits. The Trump Administration seems to incorporate a “great person” theory in an array of policy spheres, and perhaps Bessent is such a person. But, no matter how illustrious the individual, there’s a floor below which there’s simply not enough human attention to go around.

Erin Slowey, What’s Next as Bessent Hits Acting IRS Chief Limit: Explained, Bloomberg Tax (Mar. 10, 2026):

When someone’s position is in violation [of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act], their actions have no force or effect. . . .

The only way for there to be a consequence for not following [the] law is for someone to sue.

It’s tricky to sue under the vacancies law because some agencies will have another employee co-sign any actions by the acting official. . . .

Erin Slowey, Treasury’s Bessent Drops Acting IRS Chief Title, Keeps Tasks, Bloomberg Tax (Mar. 13, 2026):

IRS commissioner, which Bessent has held in an acting capacity since August, is one of two IRS positions requiring Senate confirmation. He is the seventh person to hold the top job at the IRS since the start of 2025 and after a slew of top leader exits. There isn’t a current nominee.

A Trump IRS nominee would serve out the remainder of Biden’s pick Danny Werfel, which ends in November 2027. This makes it unlikely for the administration to nominate another candidate as time the person would spend in the job runs down.

Benjamin Valdez, Bessent Drops Commissioner Title but Retains Duties, IRS Says, Tax Notes Today Fed. (Mar. 16, 2025):

The announcement signals that the Trump administration likely intends to keep the IRS commissioner role vacant for the foreseeable future . . .

[T]he commissioner’s role has never been completely unfilled for more than a day since the role’s creation in the 19th century.

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