Melanie Krause is an American government official who served as acting

Commissioner of Internal Revenue The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an agency within the United States Department of the Treasury. The office of Commissioner was created by United States Congress, Congress as part of the Reven ...

from February to April 2025.

Early life and education

Krause attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, and received three degrees, including a Ph.D. in nursing in 2010. Her first job out of school was as a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a healthcare professional who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized ...

at an

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States. Still, the setting i ...

facility.

Career

Krause started her career in the government as an auditor of healthcare for the

GAO Gao (or Gawgaw/Kawkaw) is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an imp ...

, and then spent seven years working at the

United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

. 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. Krause began with the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

(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. 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 The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an agency within the United States Department of the Treasury. The office of Commissioner was created by Congress as part of the Revenue Act of 1862. Section ...

. Krause resigned less than two months later on April 8, 2025. She did so in protest over a

data sharing Data sharing is the practice of making data used for scholarly research available to other investigators. Many funding agencies, institutions, and publication venues have policies regarding data sharing because transparency and openness are consid ...

agreement between the IRS and

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...

(ICE), allowing disclosure of confidential immigrant tax information. This agreement was signed by

Treasury Secretary The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Scott Bessent Scott Kenneth Homer Bessent ( ; born August 21, 1962) is an American government official and former hedge fund manager serving since 2025 as the 79th United States Secretary of the Treasury, United States secretary of the treasury. He was former ...

and Homeland Security Secretary

Kristi Noem Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem ( ; née Arnold; born November 30, 1971) is an American politician serving as the 8th United States secretary of homeland security since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, she served from 2019 to 2025 as the 33rd ...

. 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 The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Personal life

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.” She has maintained her license as a registered nurse.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krause, Melanie 21st-century nurses American auditors American chief operating officers American women civil servants American women nurses Commissioners of Internal Revenue United States Department of Veterans Affairs officials University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)