The Internal Revenue Service has quietly begun using Salesforce's Agentforce artificial intelligence platform in three major divisions.
Axios reported that those divisions are the Office of Chief Counsel, the Taxpayer Advocate Service, and the Office of Appeals.
The rollout comes as IRS employment has dropped roughly 25% this year.
Salesforce has worked with the IRS for several years to bring basic technology up to date in those areas.
Agentforce is the next step: autonomous AI agents that can summarize complex cases, search records, and handle routine taxpayer questions.
The platform runs on Salesforce Government Cloud, which carries FedRAMP High authorization and meets IRS Section 1075 rules for protecting taxpayer data.
Salesforce stresses that the agents are built with strict guardrails. They cannot make final decisions, approve refunds, or disburse funds. Every action still requires human review.
Paul Tatum, Salesforce's executive vice president of global public sector solutions, told Axios the goal is to help overworked employees, not replace them.
He said the company does not support fully automated tax processing without human oversight.
Rob Fitzpatrick, a 38-year veteran in the Office of Chief Counsel, said the IRS began modernizing its decades-old systems in 2023.
He admitted he was initially skeptical of AI. Now he calls it "negligence" not to use the tools.
Fitzpatrick said the technology lets IRS lawyers compete head-to-head with private law firms that have already adopted similar systems.
He described the change as inevitable and said recent staff cuts stem from multiple factors, not just AI adoption.
Fitzpatrick told Axios employees have a choice: learn the new tools and become more efficient or risk falling behind.
Salesforce says Agentforce is designed to take routine work off overloaded desks so IRS staff can focus on the most complex cases.
The company points out that the platform offers prebuilt case-management applications and low-code customization so agencies can tailor workflow without heavy programming.
Quarterly automatic updates keep the system current without forcing the IRS to manage upgrades itself.
Whether the AI agents will ultimately slow further layoffs or simply let the agency do more with less remains an open question.
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.