Firings are focused on new hires, many of whom investigate fraud and evasion.

A tearful executive at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service told staffers on Thursday that about 6,000 employees would be fired, a person familiar with the matter said, in a move that would eliminate roughly 6% of the agency's workforce in the midst of the busy tax-filing season.

Thousands of people were fired from the IRS this week in the thick of tax season. Most of those fired were “probationary” workers, people typically having served in their roles for under two years. The cuts are part of the Trump administration’s widespread efforts to downsize the federal workforce,

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is expected to fire about 6,700 employees on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said, eliminating roughly 7% of the tax-collecting agency's workforce in the midst of the critical tax-filing season.

The IRS will lay off roughly 7,000 workers in Washington and around the country beginning Thursday, a person familiar with the plans told the Associated Press. The layoffs affect probationary employees with roughly one year or less of service at the agency and largely include workers in compliance departments,