Melanie Krause | |
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| Commissioner of Internal Revenue | |
| Acting February 28, 2025 –April 16, 2025 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Douglas O'Donnell (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Gary Shapley (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1985or1986(age 39–40) [1] |
| Education | University of Wisconsin–Madison (BS,MS,PhD) |
Melanie Krause is an American government official who served as acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue from February to April 2025. [2] [3]
Krause attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison,and received three degrees, [4] including a Ph.D. in nursing in 2010. Her first job out of school was as a registered nurse at an assisted living facility. [5]
Krause started her career in the government as an auditor of healthcare for the GAO,and then spent seven years working at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. [6] In 2018 she became assistant inspector general for the Veterans Affairs Office;at age 32 this made her the agency's fourth-ever female senior executive. Within three years she had a staff of 140,whose functions included overseeing over 30,000 contracts per year and detecting fraud,waste and abuse. [5]
Krause began with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2021 as chief data and analytics officer. In 2022 she became deputy commissioner for services and enforcement,and in 2024 she moved up to become chief operating officer. [4] In this position she was in charge of day-day operations with over 100,000 personnel in over 500 locations. On February 25,2025 she was appointed acting commissioner of the IRS. [6]
Krause resigned less than two months later on April 8,2025. She did so in protest over a data sharing agreement between the IRS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),allowing disclosure of confidential immigrant tax information. This agreement was signed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. [7] Krause was left out of the discussions and had no input. She learned about the agreement after the information had been sent to Fox News. [8]
Krause acknowledged that she "moved up so quickly" in the government workplace. She opined that the vigor of her nursing training enabled her to "get up to speed quickly and hit the ground running" and "to climb the ranks in the federal government.” [5] She has maintained her license as a registered nurse. [4]
"Now, at 35, she oversees a team that is essential to her agency's continued ability to meet their mission."
She's expected to depart the organization April 28 as part of the deferred resignation offer extended to federal employees.
| Authority control databases: Academics |
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