Bessent names new CEO for tax collection agency

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(The Center Square) – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is serving as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, created a new position to lead the day-to-day operations of the federal government's tax collection agency. 

Bessent announced that Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano will serve as Chief Executive Officer of the IRS. In the newly created position, Bisignano will report directly to Bessent. Bisignano will manage the organization and oversee day-to-day IRS operations while continuing to serve as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

"Frank is a businessman with an exceptional track record of driving growth and efficiency in the private and now public sector," Bessent said in a statement.

IRS officials said the IRS and SSA share many of the same technological and customer service goals. 

"Under his leadership at the SSA, he has already made important and substantial progress, and we are pleased that he will bring this expertise to the IRS as we sharpen our focus on collections, privacy, and customer service in order to deliver better outcomes for hardworking Americans," Bessent said.

The IRS has gone through seven leaders so far this year. Last month, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called for "stability" at the IRS.

Bisignano previously served as Chairman and CEO of Fiserv, the world's largest financial services and payment technology company. He also held similar jobs running large organizations that managed sensitive data.

The IRS media office didn't immediately answer questions about pay for the new IRS CEO position. Many federal media relations offices closed amid the ongoing partial federal government shutdown.

Last month, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration wrote in a report that it was concerned about the IRS's staffing levels.

"We expect workforce reductions to impact key processing programs and customer service going forward," the September report noted. "We are concerned about how this will impact the 2026 Filing Season. Key IRS functions responsible for managing the filing season have lost 17% to 19% of their workforce."

The report noted that the staffing issues come as the agency prepares to implement key tax provisions included in the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The GOP measure expanded deductions for tipped workers, overtime pay, senior citizens and people with high state and local tax bills.

"Staffing losses in the IRS's Information Technology function and recently enacted legislation create additional challenges for the IRS as it prepares for the 2026 Filing Season," according to the report. "The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will require the IRS to make substantial changes ahead of the 2026 Filing Season, but the agency will have fewer Information Technology resources to timely update processing systems."