The acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service is being replaced after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained to President Trump that the latest leader of the agency had been installed without his knowledge and at the behest of billionaire Elon Musk, according to five people with knowledge of the change and the sensitive discussions that precipitated it.
Mr. Bessent believed that Mr. Musk had done an end run around him to get Gary Shapley installed as the interim head of the I.R.S., even though the tax collection agency reports to Mr. Bessent. Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency pushed the appointment through White House channels, but Mr. Bessent was not consulted or asked for his blessing, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations.
Mr. Bessent got Mr. Trump’s approval to unwind the decision. The next acting head of the I.R.S., which has seen a conveyor belt of temporary leaders under Mr. Trump, is expected to be the deputy secretary of the Treasury, Michael Faulkender. He would hold the role until the president’s nominee for the permanent role, former congressman Billy Long, if approved by the Senate, takes over.
Mr. Shapley, a longtime I.R.S. agent, was lauded by conservatives after he publicly argued that the Justice Department had slow-walked its investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes.
Mr. Trump picked Mr. Shapley on Tuesday to run the agency after the previous I.R.S. interim head, Melanie Krause, decided to resign. Ms. Krause quit after the Treasury Department agreed to use I.R.S. data to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement deport undocumented immigrants. After telling colleagues on April 8 she would take the administration’s deferred resignation offer, Ms. Krause remained in the role until Mr. Musk forced the change on Tuesday.
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