A audit conducted by the Treasury inspector general for tax
administration has concluded that an Internal Revenue Service
plan to close 68 of its 400 taxpayer assistance centers was
based on inaccurate data, and that the effect the closures
would have on taxpayer assistance and compliance is unclear.
After the agency announced the plan to close the centers,
expected to yield staffing and facilities cost savings between
$45 and $55 million, Congress blocked the agency from using
appropriated funds to carry out the closures until the IG
completed its study on the effects of the plan to reduce these
taxpayer services.
The agency selected the centers to be closed using a closure
model, scoring each center according to geography, employee
costs, facilities costs, workload, and demographics, according
to the audit.
However, after a systematic review, the IG said that while the
structure of the model was sound, not all data used were
accurate or the most current available and some of the data
were based on estimates and projections rather than actual
data currently available.
Further, it said the agency may have selected too many or too
few TACs to close in order to meet its targeted savings of $45
million to $55 million.
The quality of the model’s workload data and the absence of
customer information diminish the effectiveness of the model to
identify which TACs to close, the audit said.
