IRS puts plans for assistance center closures on hold

The Internal Revenue Service on Friday announced that it is suspending plans to close 68 taxpayer assistance centers.

IRS officials had announced the closures in late May as part of an effort to improve efficiency and free up resources for enforcement activities. But the shutdowns, scheduled to happen this fall at a cost of about 430 jobs, prompted substantial opposition from union officials and lawmakers.

"I appreciate the concerns raised by Congress . . . and have put these closures on hold," IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said in a statement. The shutdowns will be suspended until appropriations bills that could affect the plans are complete, he said.

Preliminary House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2006 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill contain language that would bar the IRS from closing the centers. In early July, House lawmakers sent Everson a letter criticizing him for moving ahead on the closures despite the legislative provisions.

Critics argued that the closures were poorly planned and would have hurt customer service. "This decision reverses a plan that clearly would have been counterproductive," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, in a statement.

The IRS will be required to do some "belt-tightening" given President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget request, which allotted a funding increase for enforcement but included cutbacks in other areas, Everson said in his statement. "We want to create efficiencies where they'd have the least impact on service," he said.

The center closures were designed to do that, IRS officials have said. Taxpayers are visiting the assistance centers less and are relying more on resources available online, according to IRS statistics.

But the closures would hurt taxpayers who may lack access to the Internet or require in-person help preparing their forms, Kelley said. She hailed the suspension as a "huge victory for American taxpayers."

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also praised the decision. "While the IRS may need to bolster enforcement, it is wrong to do so at the expense of customer service," he said in a statement. "This will not only affect over 430 federal employees who will lose their current jobs serving taxpayers in our communities, but it will have a devastating impact on the millions of constituents who rely on tax guidance each year in order to comply with our tax laws."