Bessent says he is performing IRS commissioner duties amid Trump tax settlement scrutiny

Scott Bessent, US treasury secretary, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 3, 2026. Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that he is "performing the duties" of Internal Revenue Service commissioner, even as he insisted he is not the agency's acting commissioner, during a heated Senate exchange over President Donald Trump settlement with the IRS. Bessent, who had been the acting IRS commissioner since August, took over the commissioner duties in a little-noticed move two and a half months ago, the agency said in a post on its website March 13. The IRS said Bessent's time as acting commissioner had "expired" but that he "retains the authority and responsibility to perform the functions and duties of vacant Treasury offices that are not filled on an acting basis." The distinction became central during questioning at a Senate Finance Commitee hearing from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto , D-Nev. She pressed Bessent over his current authority at the tax agency and whether hundreds of thousands of other taxpayers whose information was leaked by a former IRS contractor would receive the same treatment Democrats say Trump, his family and his businesses received after the leak of their tax returns "You are the acting IRS commissioner , correct?" Cortez Masto asked at the hearing on the Treasury Department budget. "That is incorrect," Bessent replied. …