Besent replaces acting IRS commissioner in Muscus Force struggle

Treasury Secretary Scott Besent has appointed his deputy, Michael Faulkender, as the following acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service after reports that the current leader of the agency, Gary Shaplley, was installed at the temptation of Elon Musk without Bestent’s knowledge. “Confidence must be brought back to the IRS,” Besent told X in a post on Friday and called Faulkender “the right man for the moment”. Besent said Shaplley – who became famous in conservative circles after demanding that the Justice Department investigated an investigation into whether the former President Joe Biden’s son would remain with his taxes, “would remain among my most senior advisers. Joseph Ziegler, another IRS employee removed from the Hunter Biden case, will also ensure a long-term senior government role, Treasury Secretary said. The move came hours after the New York Times reported that Bestent President Donald Trump approached to complain that Musk had gone to appoint Shaplley as the acting head of the agency. The switch means that the IRS will now have its fifth acting commissioner since Trump held office less than 100 days ago – and his third in less than a week. The former head of the agency, Melanie Krause, resigned after the Treasury division agreed to provide taxpayer data to help immigration and customs handling facilitate deportation efforts, despite prolonged privacy rules. The upheaval comes because the IRS made the center of Trump’s effort to deprive universities and non-profit groups, which he sees as political enemies of their tax-free status. “I don’t know what’s going on, but when you see how bad they have acted, and in other ways, so will we look at it very strongly, about the tax -free status topic,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. IRS commissioner Danny Werfel, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, resigned in January shortly after Trump’s inauguration and was replaced by Doug O’Donnell, who retired a month later. Faulkender previously led the PayCheck Protection Program in Trump’s first administration. He will remain in the position until Billy Long, a former member of the House of Representatives, is confirmed by the Senate. © 2025 Bloomberg MP This article was generated from an automatic news agency feed without edits to text. First published: 19 Apr 2025, 02:02 AM IST