The positions were vacated by the pair following their acceptance of voluntary resignation offers, after serving in the government for just over a year, according to two individuals.
Two key directors involved in the IRS’s crypto initiatives, Seth Wilks and Raj Mukherjee, were lost by the agency on Friday after deferred resignation offers, issued by the Department of Government Efficiency, were accepted by them.
Wilks and Mukherjee, who had joined the IRS from the cryptocurrency sector, were placed on paid administrative leave as of Friday afternoon, while still being officially employed by the agency for the next few months, according to two individuals with knowledge of the matter. Deferred resignation offers were extended to a broad group of federal employees earlier this year by President Donald Trump’s administration through the DOGE program.
Wilks, formerly a vice president at TaxBit, and Mukherjee, previously the head of tax at ConsenSys and Binance.US, were brought into the IRS Digital Asset Initiative in February 2024. They were assigned responsibilities for enhancing the agency’s strategy on cryptocurrency taxation, which included the development of reporting, compliance, and enforcement programs, as well as collaboration with industry stakeholders. Their contributions were also applied to the updated 1099-DA tax form released last summer, intended to assist U.S. individuals in reporting digital asset-related tax obligations.
Portions of the agency’s efforts to draft tax regulations for the cryptocurrency sector were also overseen by the pair.
One such regulation, which introduced specific data collection obligations for decentralized finance (DeFi) brokers, was finalized by the IRS during the final phase of the former Joe Biden administration. Earlier this year, the rule was nullified by Congress through a joint resolution that was signed into law by President Trump under the Congressional Review Act.
The role of executive director of digital asset strategy and development at the IRS was held by Wilks, while Mukherjee was appointed as the executive director of the digital assets office.
It was noted by both individuals who spoke that voluntary buyouts had been accepted by the two officials; however, these deferred resignations were made in advance of anticipated reductions to IRS personnel.
According to a report by the New York Times last month, the deferred resignation program was enrolled in by over 20,000 IRS employees, who have been placed on administrative leave through September.
