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The probationary employees were going to bring “younger, new people into the organization that hopefully would have a longer shelf life or career,” said Hansen Rada, CEO of Tax Guard, a provider of IRS tax data services.

“I’ve seen numbers of 20%, I’ve seen numbers of 30%, I’ve seen numbers of 50%,” said Tax Guard CEO Hansen Rada. “It’s really difficult to tell what is true, and I don’t think anybody knows, because the proposal has been private, so there is definitely a giant question mark as to how strong the IRS will be going forward.”

“The Treasury put out a statement that if there were a shutdown, they were going to fund the IRS through April 30, with all of it 100% open, which means it would not cause a problem for the f iling season, but then after April 30, the IRS would go to zero,” said Tax Guard CEO Hansen Rada. “Based on the Treasury’s announcement yesterday, it looks like they would get through the filing season and then shut it all down.”