Turmoil continues to roil the highest ranks of the Internal Revenue Service, as the President has replaced the acting IRS Commissioner that he appointed just last week. As we previously wrote, on Tax Day, the President named a former IRS criminal investigator, Gary Shapely, as the new IRS chief. At the end of last week, the President abruptly removed Shapely from the post after only three days on the job, and replaced him with Michael Faulkender, who currently serves as Treasury Deputy Secretary. Faulkender is the fifth leader of the IRS since January, and the third acting commissioner within a one-week span.
According to media reports, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained to the President that he had not been consulted prior to Shapely’s appointment and that, according to The New York Times, Elon Musk had “done an end run around him to get Mr. Shapely installed.” In a statement, the Treasury Secretary said that “[t]rust must be brought back to the I.R.S., and I am fully confident that Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender is the right man for the moment.”
During the first Trump administration, Faulkender served in the Treasury Department as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, where he oversaw the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program. He has served as Treasury Deputy Secretary since March 2025.
Meanwhile, the President’s pick to serve as permanent IRS Commissioner, Billy Long, continues to await a confirmation hearing.
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