Biden to Tap Boston Consulting’s Werfel as New IRS Commissioner

Nancy Cook and Laura Davison
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will nominate Danny Werfel as the next head of the Internal Revenue Service, the White House announced Thursday.

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Werfel is a global leader at the Boston Consulting Group and former acting administrator of the IRS under President Barack Obama.

The goal is to confirm a new leader for the agency before Jan. 3, when Democrats may no longer control both chambers of Congress following Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hailed the pick.

“Danny’s prior service under both Democratic and Republican administrations, his deep management experience, and his work directing significant transformation efforts, make him uniquely qualified to lead the agency at this critical juncture,” Yellen said in a statement, urging his swift confirmation.

With Republicans inching toward securing a House majority, Werfel would take over at a time of increased congressional scrutiny for Biden’s administration.

The leak of thousands of internal documents and tax returns to the non-profit newsroom ProPublica is one likely topic of Republican inquiries.

The incoming commissioner also could potentially be the target of impeachment attempts from far-right House lawmakers, as was the case for former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

House Republicans repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, tried to impeach Koskinen following reports that the IRS’s non-profit division was slow-walking requests for tax-exempt status from conservative groups.

The next commissioner also will have to contend with Republican claims that additional funding for the agency passed by Democrats will lead to a massive increase in the number of armed IRS agents and that enhanced enforcement would be aimed at middle-income taxpayers.

Republicans could seek to cut -- or even eliminate -- funding for the agency.

The IRS is getting an infusion of $80 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act that will be used to rebuild the agency’s enforcement capacity and upgrade its computer systems.

Any new commissioner will oversee how that funding is deployed in the agency, which has been plagued by staffing shortages and technology challenges for roughly a decade.

“Americans interact with the IRS more than any other federal agency, and I’m confident he will effectively deploy the new resources approved by Congress to better serve American taxpayers and ensure the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations pay the taxes they owe,” Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden, whose panel has jurisdiction over the nomination, said in a statement.

Wyden added, “I look forward to working with my colleagues to move his nomination as quickly as possible.”

In addition to serving as the acting IRS administrator under Obama, Werfel spent 16 years at the Office of Management and Budget, as deputy controller and then as federal controller.

The IRS Commissioner job has historically been a difficult post to fill partially because of the special skills needed to lead an agency of roughly 80,000 employees that is responsible for collecting the revenue that funds the federal government.

--With assistance from Kaustuv Basu.

(Adds details, reaction starting in fourth paragraph)

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