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Washington, D.C.—Fifteen senators and House members from Massachusetts and New Hampshire have called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to delay, at least until 2012, the planned shutdown this year of paper tax return processing at its Andover and Fitchburg, Mass., facilities and retain the current workforce rather than putting those employees out of their jobs.

In a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, the members of Congress emphasized the planned reduction at the Andover Service Center—where the IRS has thousands of employees—was based on an IRS projection of a sharp increase by the 2007 tax-filing season to 80 percent in the number of tax returns filed electronically.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) echoed the lawmakers’ request and pointed out that recent data from a 2008 Government Accountability Office report show that last year only 59 percent of returns were filed electronically—the same as the year before. “The IRS is nowhere near hitting its 80 percent projection of electronic filings,” President Kelley said.

"During this economic downturn and at a time when Congress is working to save and create 4 million jobs, it makes no sense to lay off a considerable number of workers at the Andover IRS facility," said Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.), who spearheaded the letter. "Furthermore, the change to electronic returns that was the rationale behind the reduction in force has not occurred as quickly as previously anticipated, and as such these workers continue to provide a valuable service to the IRS."

“I appreciate the leadership of Rep. Tsongas, and all the members of Congress who signed the letter,” President Kelley said. “These members of Congress are in close contact with their constituents who perform this work and they have a very good understanding of the continuing needs not only of the workforce at the service center, but of the agency as well. It would be an extremely costly mistake to lose the expertise of this workforce.”

And a troubling move in the current economic climate, the lawmakers noted. “We feel that the current state of our national economy requires that this plan be reconsidered,” the letter says.

As they did in a letter a year ago, the House and Senate members called on the IRS commissioner to bring new work to the Andover facility so the agency is able to retain the “knowledge and experience of the soon-to-be-displaced employees.”

In addition to pressing for the delay and bringing new work to Andover, NTEU has worked diligently to put in place a variety of mitigation strategies, including early-out and buyout programs, for employees adversely impacted by IRS reorganization efforts.

“Our intention is to keep up our efforts on this front even as we continue to work to keep the facilities open,” the NTEU leader said.

In addition to Rep. Tsongas, the letter to Commissioner Shulman was signed by Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy (D) and John Kerry (D), as well as Democratic Reps. William Delahunt, Stephen Lynch, James McGovern, John Olver, Michael Capuano, Barney Frank, Edward Markey, Richard Neal and John Tierney; as well as three New Hampshire Democratic members of Congress, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter.

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