The IRS lost two key directors working on crypto initiatives, Seth Wilks and Raj Mukherjee

Two key directors working on crypto initiatives at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) accepted deferred resignation offers directed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Friday, two people familiar with the situation told CoinDesk.

The two officials, Seth Wilks and Raj Mukherjee, are technically still employees with the IRS for the next few months but they are on paid administrative leave as of Friday afternoon.

The president's administration, through DOGE, offered deferred resignations to a wide array of federal employees earlier this year.

Both Wilks and Mukherjee went to the IRS from the crypto industry. They joined the IRS Digital Asset Initiative in February and were tasked with helping the agency better approach crypto taxation, including leading the agency’s efforts to build reporting, compliance and enforcement programs for crypto and coordinating with the industry.

They worked on an updated 1099-DA tax form shared last summer to aid U.S. persons with filing taxes tied to digital asset transactions.

The pair also oversaw parts of the agency’s efforts to draft tax rules for the crypto industry.

The IRS finalized one such rule, imposing certain data collection requirements on decentralized finance (DeFi) brokers, in the waning days of the former administration. This rule was overturned by Congress earlier this year under the Congressional Review Act in a joint resolution signed by Trump.

Wilks was the IRS’ executive director of digital asset strategy and development, while Mukherjee was the executive director of the digital assets office.

Both people who spoke to CoinDesk noted that the two officials had accepted voluntary buyouts but that these deferred resignations came ahead of expected cuts to IRS staff.

More than 20,000 IRS employees signed up for the deferred resignation program, the New York Times reported last month, with these employees being put on administrative leave through September.