A view of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 11, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Gary Shapley, the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, is being replaced after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approached President Donald Trump to say that Shapley was placed into the role without his knowledge and at Elon Musk’s direction, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
Bessent received Trump’s approval to roll back the decision, the source said. A Treasury spokesperson confirmed that Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender had been selected to become the next acting head of the IRS.
“Trust must be brought back to the IRS, and I am fully confident that Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender is the right man for the moment,” Bessent said in a statement, adding that Shapley would remain a top adviser to him on IRS reform.
“Gary Shapley’s passion and thoughtfulness for approaching ways by which to create durable and lasting reforms at the IRS is essential to our work, and he remains among my most important senior advisors at the U.S. Treasury as we work together to rethink and reform the IRS,” Bessent said.
The move and details of the decision were first reported by The New York Times.
Neither the White House nor Department of Government Efficiency immediately responded to requests for comment.
Shapley, a career IRS investigator, spent years working on the Hunter Biden tax evasion case before coming forward as a whistleblower in 2022 to criticize the government’s work. In March, he was promoted to a new senior adviser role at the Treasury Department and named as the deputy chief of IRS criminal investigations.
Shapley’s elevation to lead the IRS this week was feted by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, who wrote in March that he had urged Bessent to place Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, another whistleblower in the Biden case, in leadership roles.
Shapley had replaced Melanie Krause, the acting commissioner since February, who earlier this month said she was resigning over a data-sharing agreement with the Department of Homeland Security. The agreement permits immigration authorities to submit personal information, like names and addresses, to be verified against tax filings.
There have been public signs of discord between Bessent and Musk in recent days. In a Thursday night social media post, Musk reposted commentary by far-right activist Laura Loomer alleging a “vetting crisis” at the White House and attacking Bessent for his involvement with someone she characterized as anti-Trump. Loomer vowed to “personally tell President Trump and personally show him these receipts.”
“Troubling,” Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he owns, sharing Loomer’s thread.
Trump has said that Musk would not overstep in his role as head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, and during a Cabinet meeting last month said Musk has “never asked him for a thing.”
Cost-cutting efforts at the IRS by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have led to recent turbulence there, with leadership changes among the most visible effects.
Krause had replaced Douglas O’Donnell as acting commissioner after O’Donnell, a roughly 40-year veteran of the IRS, announced his retirement amid concerns over DOGE gaining access to taxpayer data. Former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who was nominated by Joe Biden, stepped down on Inauguration Day.
Trump’s pick to lead the IRS permanently, Billy Long, was tapped to lead the department through November 2027, when Werfel’s term was set to run out. Long has not yet had a confirmation hearing in the Senate.
