It is said that “death and taxes” are two inevitable things, but extraordinary times sometimes cause extraordinary circumstances, and such was recently reported on by Politico, where the IRS has had to shutter her offices amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The IRS issued a nearly blanket evacuation order to its workforce beginning today, the latest in a series of steps to shrink the number of on-site employees due to the coronavirus pandemic.
An agency-wide email from IRS Human Capital Officer Robin Bailey on Friday explained that all employees “including employees who are currently not teleworking but whose work is portable or can be adapted to work off-site” must “evacuate the work site” and either work from home or an alternate location.
The directions include employees who don’t have a telework agreement. Prior guidance from management had told telework-eligible employees to work remotely. (source)
While it is true that people are working from home, the fact is that the IRS is shuttering her offices and reducing operations, which is a very rare thing.
This is another testament to the fact that we are living in historic times, and the effects of this virus will last for many years to come.