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Washington, D.C.—In the wake of strong criticism by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which spurred action by Congress, the Internal Revenue Service has abandoned a plan it sought to put into effect today to cut back by some 20 percent the hours taxpayers can obtain telephone help on their tax questions from IRS employees.

“Good riddance to this ill-conceived plan that would have made it more difficult for taxpayers to voluntarily comply with their tax obligations,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. As the 2006 tax-filing season gets underway in earnest, today marks the start of the peak season for telephone tax help from the IRS.

In December, the IRS made known its plan to cut availability of its telephone assistance by three hours a day; the cuts are part of a concerted effort by the agency to reduce employee-aided customer service and to drive taxpayers to its Internet site for the help they need.

As part of its continuing fight against these counterproductive proposals, NTEU secured language in the fiscal 2006 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill directing the IRS to make improvements of its 1-800 help line service a priority—and to allocate the resources needed to increase phone lines and staff for that service.

The House-Senate conference report on that bill also contains language preventing Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) closings and other customer service cutbacks until the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has studied these possible moves and reported to Congress on their impact.

NTEU and its members and chapters across the country were responsible last summer and fall for getting the IRS to back away from a plan to close 68 TACs nationwide.

Despite Transportation-Treasury language, however, the IRS said it would go ahead with the telephone help line cutbacks. At NTEU’s urging, that drew additional congressional action in the form of a provision in the fiscal 2006 Defense Appropriations bill specifically prohibiting the IRS from cutting telephone assistance center help below the levels of October 2005.

It was only late Friday that the IRS notified NTEU of its decision to retain current telephone assistance hours.

“NTEU will continue to thwart and resist anti-taxpayer actions by IRS leadership,” Kelley said. “Someone needs to be looking out for America’s taxpayers under this administration.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including 94,000 in the IRS.