IRS Crypto Division Gets Battle-Hardened Leader as DOGE Volatility Erodes Tax Coffers

Trish Turner—a 20-year IRS veteran with a reputation for wrangling complex cases—steps into the crypto enforcement hot seat just as Elon Musk’s latest Dogecoin tweets trigger another market bloodbath. The timing couldn’t be worse: the agency’s crypto tax projections are getting shredded by memecoin whiplash.

From forensic audits to meme-fueled chaos

Turner inherits a unit scrambling to track transactions across 50+ chains while exchanges ’accidentally’ lose wallet data. Her playbook? Old-school forensic accounting meets chainalysis—with a side of subpoena power.

Wall Street snickers as regulators play whack-a-mole

Meanwhile, hedge funds quietly book record profits on volatility derivatives—because nothing makes trad-fi happier than crypto’s tax-reporting dumpster fire.

Trish Turner Tapped For Top Position

According to the media outlet, Turner will serve as the crypto unit’s head after spending nearly two decades with the agency.

The former senior adviser’s rise within the Digital Assets Office comes as crypto tax experts Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee and Seth Wilks are slated to depart the agency after accepting a resignation offer from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“Leaving this role was my decision, but it was not something I truly wanted to do,” Wilks said in a May 5 post on LinkedIn. “I had three more years left in my term, and I would have been proud to continue serving.”

“The reality is that federal employees have faced a very difficult environment over the past few months,” he added.

DOGE Cuts Impact Federal Workers

News of Turner’s promotion coincides with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s major layoffs of federal workers in a bid to reduce government spending and streamline operations.

According to CBS News, the IRS has lost more than 33% of its tax auditors in just two months, though up to 40% of its workforce could be cut this year.

Spearheaded by Tesla founder Elon Musk, the initiative has drawn widespread public backlash, with several of the electric vehicle maker’s dealerships, vehicles, and charging stations attacked in recent months.

Tesla reported a startling Q1 2025 result in March, with its net profits plunging by more than 71%.

“My Tesla stock, and the stock of everyone who owns Tesla, has roughly halved,” Musk said at a Wisconsin town hall in March hosted by his crypto-friendly America PAC. “I mean, it’s a big deal.”

With digital assets playing a key role in U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, it is still unclear how the IRS will address cryptocurrencies going forward.