IRS resurrecting plan for cutting back taxpayer services.(TAXPAYER SERVICE)(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief article)

Kiplinger Tax Letter, The, April, 2007

IRS is resurrecting a plan for cutting back taxpayer services.

It will close many walk-in assistance centers this year and next. Centers will remain only in areas with large concentrations of seniors and low-incomers. Other filers tend to seek IRS help online or by phone. Congress balked at an earlier closure plan but won't block this one because IRS comes armed with extensive research to back up its proposal.

And the Service will test self-service Internet kiosks in 2007 at 15 of the centers that remain open. Taxpayers had better get used to the idea that face-to-face IRS tax assistance is on its way out.