Two top IRS cryptocurrency officials abruptly jumped ship on Friday, leaving the agency’s digital asset initiatives in chaos. Seth Wilks and Raj Mukherjee, who joined the IRS in 2024 from the crypto industry, resigned their positions as executive directors of the agency’s digital asset programs.
Talk about timing – they bailed just as the crypto world braces for new tax reporting requirements.
Perfect storm alert: Top crypto tax chiefs abandon ship right before major reporting overhaul hits the industry.
The departures weren’t exactly spontaneous. Both officials took advantage of the ironically named DOGE program – a government-offered deferred resignation plan that keeps them on paid leave until September 2025.
They’re joining over 20,000 other IRS employees who decided that getting paid to not work was a pretty sweet deal under the Trump administration’s staff reduction initiative.
The exits couldn’t have come at a more pivotal moment. Wilks and Mukherjee were the masterminds behind the new 1099-DA tax form and essential digital asset reporting standards. Their extensive work on integrating crypto regulations into existing tax frameworks made their sudden departure even more significant.
They shaped how cryptocurrency activity should be tracked and reported, and now they’re gone. Just like that. Poof.
Sources say the resignations won’t change the IRS’s stance on crypto regulations, but let’s be real – losing your top digital asset chiefs creates one massive headache.
The timing is particularly awkward, happening right before mandatory implementation of new tax forms in 2025. Crypto investors and platforms are scratching their heads, wondering what this means for their tax requirements.
The departures are part of a larger shake-up in government, tied to political changes and administrative downsizing efforts.
But the real kicker? These officials barely warmed their seats, leaving just over a year after joining the agency.
Now there’s a leadership vacuum in the IRS Digital Asset Initiative, with no clear timeline for replacements.
The big questions remain: Who’s going to enforce the 1099-DA deadline? How will new reporting standards roll out? And who’s brave enough to step into these roles during such turbulent times?
For now, the crypto tax world watches and waits – probably while filling out yet another extension form.
