After the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, furloughed federal workers returned to their jobs on January 25, 2019. This just three days before the official start to tax season. Many of those were Internal Revenue Service employees who had been ordered by the Trump administration to return to work, without pay, a week earlier. Not everyone complied. According to reporting from the Associated Press, fewer than half of the 26,000 recalled workers returned early to handle tax returns, answer taxpayer questions, and send out refunds. Many of them sought permission to be absent from work due to financial hardship;
