Top tech leaders to leave IRS

The top technology official at the IRS and two acting deputies in its technology office are leaving the tax agency as it continues to make headlines over a controversial new data sharing setup with the Department of Homeland Security.

Rajiv Uppal, the IRS chief information officer, told staff that he is departing on April 28 in an internal email obtained by Nextgov/FCW. 

His is the latest departure in an agency that’s seen rapid turnover at the top levels of leadership since the start of the Trump administration. The IRS has been led by three different chiefs since January, and a slew of other C-suite executives — like the agency's chief privacy officer — have also left the agency. 

The IRS has also made headlines for its recent efforts to centralize its data via the administration’s government-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk.

“I want to thank you for your resilience in the face of change,” Uppal wrote to staff on Monday. Kaschit Pandya, the tax agency’s chief technology officer, will be taking over as the acting CIO, according to that email.

Acting deputy CIOs Darnita Trower and Eric Markow are also leaving the agency, two sources familiar confirmed with Nextgov/FCW.

The IRS has also announced a “strategic re-assessment” of its IT modernization, projects and investments since the start of the Trump administration. 

The tax agency has also been laying off employees in the name of the Trump administration’s efficiency agenda following Biden administration efforts to staff up the agency. The IRS fired around 50 senior executives in IT in late March.

“With new funds authorized in 2022, and with new approaches based on lessons learned, significant progress has been made in the past two years,” former IRS chief Danny Werfel told Nextgov/FCW of the tax agency’s aged technology. “We were achieving technology changes that were having immediate impacts in improving the taxpayer experience, including Direct File, expanded functionality in the Individual and Business tax accounts, improvements in the call center, such as routing calls through language recognition AI, and many others.”

“I remain worried that layoffs and budget cuts will significantly impede these efforts,” he noted. Werfel stepped down in January after Trump announced that he intended to install a replacement, even though Werfel’s term was set to run through 2027.

Uppal came into the government as part of what was formerly known as the U.S. Digital Service. Trump quickly refashioned USDS into the U.S. DOGE Service upon taking office in January. 

Trower has worked at the IRS for nearly 15 years and Markow has worked there for over 27 years, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.