WHEELING — The Internal Revenue Service has informed the U.S. Congress it is closing the taxpayer assistance office in downtown Wheeling.

The office, located at 1100 Main St., will cease operation prior to Nov. 30. A notice of the upcoming closure is posted on the door, and there appeared to be no customers there on Wednesday.

The Wheeling location is one of nine set for closure, along with others in Altoona and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Elmira and West Nyack, New York; Owensboro and Paducah, Kentucky; and Walnut Creek, California.

“The Internal Revenue Service is reviewing its space portfolio and is identifying opportunities to reduce rent costs through the strategic reduction of its office footprint as directed by an executive order and by the Office of Management and Budget,” according to a statement provided by the IRS media office to The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register. “There will be no job losses and no effect on taxpayer service as a result of this effort.

“For locations that include Taxpayer Assistance Centers, alternative options for in-person service will be identified to ensure continued support for taxpayers. As part of this process, the Wheeling, WV TAC will be closed no later than November 30, 2025.”

Taxpayers with questions about their federal taxes schedule appointments at the centers to have their concerns addressed. There are more than 360 taxpayer assistance centers nationwide.

The next closest centers to Wheeling and the Northern Panhandle are in Washington, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh.

Requests for comment also were left with the office of U.S.Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, but no response was received Wednesday.

The National Treasury Employees Union is opposing the closures. In a released statement, NTEU President Doreen Greenwald termed it a “short-sighted decision.”

“Taxpayer Assistance Centers are absolutely essential to the nation’s tax system and closing them is the opposite of what the IRS should be doing right now,” she states in the release. “We urge the IRS and the Treasury Department to reconsider these closures and make sure that individuals and business owners can access the assistance they need to meet their tax obligations.”

The TACs are especially helpful to taxpayers without access to the internet, the elderly, or anyone who prefers to conduct their business in-person, Greenwald continued. In fiscal year 2023, the IRS had 1.6 million face-to-face meetings with taxpayers at these centers, she noted.

Additionally, the closures represent a change in direction by the IRS, which previously sought to add more employees and locations to assist the public in paying federal taxes.

With funds provided by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the IRS opened or reopened 54 taxpayer assistance centers, according to information from the NTEU. This allowed the IRS to add 8,000 more hours of service during the 2023 filing season.

“Reducing the number of customer service centers reverses the progress that the IRS has made when it comes to being accessible and helpful to the American people,” Greenwald said.