Biden Nominates New IRS Chief As The Agency Prepares To Double In Size

President Joe Biden nominated consulting executive Daniel Werfel to lead the Internal Revenue Service months after Congress greenlit funding to double the agency’s size.

The term of IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, is set to expire at the end of the week. Werfel previously served as IRS acting commissioner under President Barack Obama.

“In the wake of an Inspector General report alleging various forms of mismanagement and bias in the determination of tax-exempt status for non-profit organizations, President Obama appointed Werfel to serve as Acting Commissioner of IRS in 2013,” according to a statement from the White House. “Werfel provided immediate stability to the IRS, effectively responding to numerous Congressional investigations, successfully launching the Affordable Care Act technology that IRS was responsible for, and navigated the IRS through a multi-week government shutdown.”

Werfel also oversaw the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an emergency stimulus package passed in response to the 2008 recession, as controller of the Office of Management and Budget. He has spent the past nine years leading the North American public sector practice at Boston Consulting Group.

“I strongly support President Biden’s intent to nominate Daniel Werfel to serve as the next Commissioner of the IRS,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. “Danny’s prior service under both Democratic and Republican administrations, his deep management experience, and his work directing significant transformation efforts, make him uniquely qualified to lead the agency at this critical juncture.”

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