Posted on 02/27/2025 7:23:52 AM PST by RoosterRedux
The Trump administration plans to shutter more than 110 IRS offices that have taxpayer assistance centers as the White House’s efficiency zeal carves deeper into the tax agency.
The plan, outlined in a Tuesday letter from the U.S. General Services Administration that was obtained by The Washington Post, comes in the midst of the federal tax filing season that ends April 15, and as the administration is working to reduce agencies’ headcount and scale back the footprint of the federal government. Last week, the IRS started laying off approximately 7,000 probationary employees.
At least 113 taxpayer assistance centers will have their leases terminated or not renewed when they expire, according to a list included with GSA’s letter. It’s unclear whether the assistance centers — which provide free, in-person help for tax filers, on an appointment basis — will relocate or simply close.
All soft-term leases, which can be ended on short notice, are expected to be terminated except for those deemed “public-facing,” according to the letter, which was signed by Michael Peters, the GSA’s commissioner for public buildings. Those leases will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, the letter said.
The IRS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Peters acknowledged that there are concerns about accommodating workers called back to the office under an order to return to in-person work, but he said there was an “excess of federal space identified prior to the covid-19 pandemic.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Wanna bet those were ghost centers with IRS employees “ working from home”
Likely, but also considering that they don’t actually give legitimate assistance, they should be shut down.
If you call one and they tell you to fill out an IRS form wrong and you incur penalties, YOU are liable. They absolve themselves of all responsibility for giving you the wrong advice. IOW, they’re useless.
I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help.
This is definitely more winning!! Especially this time of year
If you need help with your taxes, then you can probably afford a tax consultant. You are not going to get the answers you want from an IRS customer service agent.
And we’re happy to see you
We had one at a small strip mall. Visiting was a surreal experience. Two IRS workers and one armed security guard whose job was to tell you to pick the topic of your visit from a touch screen and to forbid any cell phone use. Want to share pics of your dog? Outside!!
The two IRS workers sat in narrow spaces and, bless their hearts, were not really capable of answering any kind of complicated questions. Their solution was for you to call the IRS phone center where you would get little or no help. You could save the cost of a stamp by dropping off your quarterly estimated tax payment, but you might have to wait for a half hour to do it.
I can envision customer service AI models who take phone calls and respond with the appropriate action.
DOGE has already announced plans to develop a free mobile app aimed at simplifying tax filing. This initiative seeks to reduce the complexity and cost associated with tax preparation.
Don’t forget, Biden and the Dems funded 87,000 new do-nothing IRS employees. Trump will be getting rid of all of them, for starters. I think all that were still in the probationary period, perhaps 1/4 of that, are already gone.
That’s a lot of office space the IRS doesn’t need.
More winning.
💯.
If I had to hire a consultant for all my conversations with the IRS, the bill would have been in the thousands.
If you call the IRS, you get a different answer depending on which agent you ask, which is confusing.
People who are unable or unwilling to use Internet services to access their IRS files actually have a need to go to an IRS office to simply confirm their identity, and get information about their accounts. (This could be done at the post office...) Without doing that, it requires some use of a mobile phone and taking pictures of oneself with the phone and uploading it to the Internet, which is done to combat identity theft. It’s a PIA, and older people may not be able, or willing, to do that.
I detest them so much. I called and they said they would NOT be responsible for the information THEY were telling me about THEIR policies. Pathetic.
Whatever. Got my refund the quickest ever…18 days with paper return.
As someone who once sat on line for 1 hour with the IRS only to be hung up on because it was end of shift, close ALL of them.
There is no reason to have call centers in 100 offices that don’t actually answer calls. Modern technology is long past the need for local call centers
HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY GO IN PERSON—_THEY WILL GO TO THEIR COMPUTER FIRST
Did you have those issues after the Trump tax cut went into effect?
I have been able to file short forms since then.
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