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Business Workshop: IRS closing offices to save money
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The Internal Revenue Service recently announced a major office consolidation that will save taxpayers more than $40 million over the next two years as it closes 43 smaller offices and reduces space in many larger facilities.
When added to office space reductions that the IRS made last year, the initiative will slash total IRS office space by more than 1 million square feet.
The 43 offices set for closure have 25 or fewer employees. Besides shuttering these offices, the IRS is also consolidating multiple offices and exploring ways to do more with existing space, such as desk sharing and increased telecommuting.
The initiative will cut space by 715,000 square feet in the 2012 fiscal year and 230,000 square feet in the 2013 fiscal year. This new consolidation is on top of a 105,000-square-foot reduction in office space in fiscal 2011.
None of the offices being closed house Taxpayer Assistance Centers, which taxpayers use to get help filing their tax forms.
This cost-cutting initiative is projected to save $17.2 million in annual rental costs in fiscal 2012 and $23.5 million in fiscal 2013. Because these reductions are permanent, the cost savings to taxpayers will continue into the future.
The IRS has more than 650 offices around the country. The initiative supplements space saving projects over the past seven years that are now yielding $70 million annually in savings on rent.
-- Herb Wolfson Wittlin
Simon & Newman
wsnpc@msn.com
First Published July 30, 2012 12:00 am
