Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that he is “performing the duties” of IRS commissioner, a position that has remained vacant since President Donald Trump fired former Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., in August.

Bessent had been acting commissioner since Long’s departure, but his 210-day window to legally serve under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act expired in March, and no nominee for a permanent IRS commissioner has been submitted to the Senate.

The IRS said in a March 13 news release that although Bessent’s term as acting commissioner expired, “in accordance with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the Secretary retains the authority and responsibility to perform the functions and duties of vacant Treasury offices that are not filled on an acting basis.”

Bessent was being questioned by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., about his authority at the IRS.

She also asked whether hundreds of thousands of other taxpayers whose information was leaked by former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn would receive the same treatment Democrats claim Trump, his family, and his businesses received after the leak of their tax returns.

“You are the acting IRS commissioner, correct?” Cortez Masto said at the hearing on the Treasury Department’s 2027 fiscal year budget.

“That is incorrect,” Bessent said.

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