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Washington, D.C.—A report by the Treasury inspector general sharply underscores the position of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) in fighting to keep operating around the country the Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the leader of NTEU said today. Taxpayers obtain a range of vital face-to-face services at the TACs to help them comply with their tax obligations.

“It is clear” from the report of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley, “that the TACs continue to play an important role in providing much-needed customer service.” TIGTA said there were more than seven million taxpayer contacts with the IRS’s 401 TACs in fiscal 2007.

The report shows, Kelley said, that “the IRS has no evidence to support scaling back or closing any of its TACs.” President Kelley and NTEU led the successful fight three years ago to prevent the IRS from closing 68 TACs around the country in an effort to push taxpayers to communicate with the agency electronically rather than in-person.

There was a groundswell of opposition to that proposal, including from members of Congress and a wide range of public interest groups, including some which advocate on behalf of low-income individuals, older men and women, and those for whom English is not their primary language. These are among the most frequent users of the TACs.

Earlier this year, the IRS’s own National Taxpayer Advocate used House Ways and Means Committee testimony to remind Congress of the IRS plan in 2001 to open 118 new TACs in the next seven or eight years; instead, the agency proposed the closing of 68 such facilities.

Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson noted her concern about reduced staffing and hours at TAC facilities and recommended “a firm commitment” by the agency to adequately staff the TACs.

President Kelley said the TIGTA report shows that despite a clear congressional mandate to develop plans to improve service to taxpayers, the IRS still does not have complete and accurate information about the operation of its TACs—noting that this is not the first time TIGTA has highlighted this failing.

“Key management information used to make decisions and support program changes continues to be either absent or based on inaccurate (or) incomplete data,” TIGTA said. That, of course, “hinders the IRS’s ability to make appropriate decisions” about such matters as TAC locations, costs, personnel and the services they provide to taxpayers seeking face-to-face assistance, the report added.

TIGTA noted that since 2003, the IRS has assigned responsibility for developing accurate TAC program data to different executives and executive-led teams, “with limited success.” It said it reviewed 33 of 41 criteria established by the IRS for use in analyzing information about the TACs, and found inaccurate or incomplete data in nearly half of these criteria—46 percent. For example, it said, the IRS inaccurately calculated rent costs, square footage and the number of TAC employees currently on the payroll.

Not having the means to capture information on all interactions between a TAC employee and a taxpayer and to determine why that person visited the facility and what service he or she received means there is no real way to determine the impact of services rendered on the taxpayer’s future compliance with their tax obligation, TIGTA said.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.