The Tax Assistance Center on Waters Place is facing closure this fall, despite efforts by Congressman Joseph Crowley to keep it open. – PHOTO BY WALTER POFELDT/NF

 After little more than a year since it opened, the Taxpayer Assistance Center is facing permanent closure
 by the IRS. However, Congressman Joseph Crowley is fighting against the recently announced
 decision.
 Earlier this month, it was announced that the center would be closing, but Crowley has vowed to “do
 everything possible” to keep it open. Last year, Crowley was one of the center’s
 biggest supporters when it opened at 1200 Waters Place. He commended the IRS for picking a central
 location and recognizing a need for better service and expediency in the area. 

 But now Crowley’s tone has changed significantly as plans to permanently close the office this coming
 fall have been confirmed. He is concerned by the national trend to shut down these offices, which offer
 cost-effective services to taxpayers. He also said that he is upset by the local impact on employees who
 will no longer have permanent positions. “The decision to close this site will not only seriously impede
 customer service, but it will also put 10 hardworking residents of the Bronx out of work,” said Crowley.
“My constituents in the Bronx depend on the services provided by the IRS, and instead they will now be
 forced to use expensive tax preparers. I plan on doing everything I can over the next few months to keep this site open.”

The closing of the Waters Place office this fall is just one of 68 nationwide locations facing a similar fate. The IRS reached the decision after implementing an extensive review of the volume of use that sites were receiving. According to the IRS, these closures are a reflection of how
taxpayers are filing their taxes and accessing tax information. The decision was reached through an objective model that measured five criteria:
workload consideration, geographic factors, demographics, employee costs and facility costs. “We’ve made significant improvements in service
recently. The walk-in sites are our most costly service vehicle, and we find taxpayers prefer to use our toll-free phone lines where their questions
can be routed by subject matter experts,” said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson.

While the IRS remains confident that the upcoming office closing will help save money, Frank Heffler, the president of the 47th Chapter of the
National Treasury Employees Union, said he is concerned about the impact to the local community from this Bronx office being slated for closure.
“It is my belief that the decision made by the IRS will impede customer service to local taxpayers and will have an overall detrimental impact to the
integrity and morale of current employees,” wrote Heffler in a recent letter of support to Crowley. “The chief problem with this decision is the
hardship that will be created for the average taxpayer, who will be forced to use expensive tax preparers instead of the services that taxpayers have
come to rely on that have always been provided by the IRS.”

Crowley echoed similar sentiments and said that he believed the surrounding neighborhoods could continue to take advantage of the services
provided by the tax center. “The real disappointment here is that this will have an impact on the quality of life for the residents of the Bronx,”
he said. “This is a working class community with hardworking families, who benefit substantially from the convenience of the tax center.
I am disappointed that this is the only solution the IRS could come up with.”