The IRS has experienced a significant loss with the departure of two key directors, Seth Wilks and Raj Mukherjee, who were working on important crypto initiatives. The Department of Government Efficiency directed them to accept deferred resignation offers, leading to their departure from the agency on Friday.
Wilks and Mukherjee, both coming from the crypto industry, are still technically IRS employees for the next few months, but they have been placed on paid administrative leave as of Friday afternoon, according to sources familiar with the situation. The Trump administration, through the Department of Government Efficiency, had offered deferred resignations to a wide range of federal employees earlier this year.
Prior to joining the IRS Digital Asset Initiative in February 2024, Wilks was a vice president at TaxBit, and Mukherjee held positions at ConsenSys and Binance.US as head of tax. Their role at the IRS was to enhance the agency’s approach to crypto taxation, including developing reporting, compliance, and enforcement programs for the crypto industry. They were also involved in the creation of an updated 1099-DA tax form to assist individuals in reporting digital asset transactions for tax purposes.
In addition to their work on taxation, Wilks and Mukherjee played a key role in drafting tax regulations for the crypto sector. One notable rule they worked on was related to data collection requirements for decentralized finance (DeFi) brokers, which was later repealed by Congress earlier this year through a joint resolution signed by Trump.
Wilks served as the IRS’ executive director of digital asset strategy and development, while Mukherjee held the position of executive director of the digital assets office. Both individuals had voluntarily accepted buyouts, but their deferred resignations came as the IRS prepared for anticipated staff reductions.
According to reports, over 20,000 IRS employees opted for the deferred resignation program, resulting in them being placed on administrative leave until September. The loss of Wilks and Mukherjee is expected to have a significant impact on the IRS’s crypto initiatives moving forward.