It’s a tax season unlike any other: As millions of Americans dutifully file their returns, the Trump administration is calling for the abolition of the Internal Revenue Service and plans to fire as many as 7,000 workers — all while Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to detailed taxpayer information.

It is not surprising that many taxpayers are wondering how this may affect their returns and refunds. But despite the uncertainty, tax experts say individuals shouldn’t change their behavior — the sooner you file, the better. There are also several things that taxpayers can do to try to prevent their return from being entangled in the system and avoid potential delays.

“There is no possible way there won’t be a reduction in service, given the I.R.S. has been trying to hire employees and they haven’t even filled all of their openings,” said Tom O’Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals.

Many of the fired employees were part of the agency’s compliance teams, which deal with auditing and collections, though some were also reportedly at call centers, too.

More than 160 million individual returns are expected to be filed this year. Those that have already been filed are winding their way through the system as usual, though taxpayers appear to be taking a bit longer to file: More than 33 million federal returns were filed as of Feb. 14, down about 5 percent from a year earlier, according to the I.R.S. website. And about 32.8 million of them had been processed, also down roughly 5 percent.

The average refund amount was $2,169, down 32 percent from $3,207 last year. The numbers tend to even out as more returns come in, the agency said on its website. But refunds are also lower, in part, because they don’t include the first wave of returns claiming the earned-income tax credit and the additional child tax credit, which cannot be issued before mid-February.

Here are some questions to consider.
Is there anything I can do to avoid delays?
Roughly 91 percent of taxpayers file their returns electronically, according to the agency. If you are among the 10 percent who don’t, now is a great time to start, whether that means working with a professional or using tax software or the agency’s free Direct File system, if you’re eligible. That’s the most important step you can take to avoid delays; also be sure to use direct deposit for your refund, and verify your routing and bank account numbers.

Could my refund be delayed?
At the moment, things are moving along as usual. It usually takes about 21 days to process a return and for a refund to be processed, according to the agency’s website.

“Every filing season for the vast majority of taxpayers, their returns go through swimmingly,” said Nina E. Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, an advocacy organization, and a former taxpayer advocate at the I.R.S.

Each return goes through a set of electronic filters, but it can get stuck or rejected if an issue is flagged — if someone has filed a return with your Social Security number, for example, or your children have already been claimed by a former spouse. Returns may also be flagged when people forget to attach a specific schedule or claim credits they are ineligible for, or the system detects a math error, which is common.

Those returns are set aside to be reviewed or even audited before a refund is issued, which may delay it. “Some of those potential issues are within your control, so make sure you have all of the required forms on your return so it doesn’t get slowed up,” Ms. Olson said. “Be really careful of how you are entering data if you are using software — check it, double-check it and triple-check it so you don’t encounter a delay here.”