IRS plans to close 9 Taxpayer Assistance Centers

The Internal Revenue Service plans to shut down nine in-person Taxpayer Assistance Centers in six states as part of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting moves.

The IRS needed to inform Congress of the planned closures, as required by federal law. The sites to be closed are in Altoona and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Elmira and West Nyack, New York; Owensboro and Paducah, Kentucky; Walnut Creek, California and Wheeling, West Virginia. The effective date will be Nov. 30.

They are among approximately 360 TACs across the U.S. where taxpayers can schedule an appointment and get free, in-person help from trained professionals. The move comes after reports last month that the IRS plans to shut down the self-service kiosks that have been available in about three dozen of the TACs after many of them were found to be out of order.

The National Treasury Employees Union is opposing the plan to shut down the plan to close down the TACs. 

“Taxpayer Assistance Centers are absolutely essential to the nation’s tax system and closing them is the opposite of what the IRS should be doing right now,” said Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, in a statement last week. “We urge the IRS and the Treasury Department to reconsider these closures and make sure that individuals and business owners can access the assistance they need to meet their tax obligations.”

The union noted that the TACs are particularly helpful to taxpayers who lack access to the internet, as well the elderly, or anyone who prefers to conduct their business in-person. In fiscal year 2023, the IRS had 1.6 million face-to-face meetings with taxpayers at the TACs.

The IRS had closed down nine of the TACs in 2018, prompting complaints from the National Taxpayer Advocate at the time, Nina Olson. With funds provided by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the IRS later opened or reopened 54 Taxpayer Assistance Centers, according to the current National Taxpayer Advocate, Erin Collins, allowing the agency to add 8,000 more hours of service during the 2023 filing season.

“Reducing the number of customer service centers reverses the progress that the IRS has made when it comes to being accessible and helpful to the American people,” Greenwald stated.

“Without these TACs, the people of these communities will have to drive longer distances, possibly 100 miles or more, in order to meet with the IRS and get their questions answered,” she added. “Whatever savings the agency believes will come from canceled leases is overshadowed by the harm to taxpayers who are simply trying to do the right thing and comply with the ever-changing tax laws.”

The IRS is facing the prospect of further budget cuts this coming fiscal year. The House Appropriations Committee voted last week to advance a $9.5 billion budget for the agency in fiscal year 2026, a 23% cut from FY 2025, according to the Federal News Network. That’s even less than proposed by the Trump administration’s original budget of $9.8 billion, which would have been a 20% cut.

By recommending that the IRS receive $853 million less for taxpayer services than the president requested for fiscal year 2026, the appropriations bill being considered by House Republicans would further undermine the agency’s customer service mission, the NTEU noted.

However, the IRS has reversed course on some of its layoff plans and is now rehiring some of the employees who were cut earlier this year when the agency lost around one-fourth of its workforce.