Sens. Collins, King, Rep. Golden Demand IRS Reopen Bangor and Augusta Tax Assistance Centers

Closure leaves some Northern Mainers facing a nearly ten-hour round-trip for in-person assistance during tax filing season.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, and U.S. Representative Jared Golden are calling on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to immediately reverse the closure of its Augusta and Bangor Tax Assistance Centers (TAC).

TACs are physical offices that offer assistance to Mainers who lack stable internet access, need help navigating technology, or otherwise need in-person assistance. With the Presque Isle TAC having previously been shuttered and Downeast Maine long lacking its own TAC, some Northern Mainers already travel hundreds of miles to access IRS services in Bangor. If the Bangor and Augusta offices - the only TACs in Maine's Second Congressional District - were to remain closed, a resident of Fort Kent would face a roughly ten-hour, 600-mile trip to Maine's only remaining TAC in South Portland.

The trio recently contacted the IRS after receiving reports from constituents that the TACs they planned to use this filing season had closed. Following confirmation of the closures from the agency, the lawmakers are now making the case that rural Maine deserves the same quality of assistance as those living in the southern part of the state.

"TACs provide critical services to rural communities and seniors," the lawmakers wrote. "[...] We ask that you restaff and reopen the TACs in Bangor and Augusta in a timely manner, and work with the Maine Congressional Delegation on a longer-term strategy to avoid future prolonged disruptions to these services in Maine."

In addition to asking for a long-term plan to reopen the Presque Isle TAC, the lawmakers are also pressing the IRS for answers on how the federal hiring freeze affected TAC staffing in Maine, whether Mainers who are unable to access tax assistance will receive an extended deadline to file, and what the agency's plans are to help affected Mainers in the meantime.

Last year, the IRS rolled back a previously scheduled closure of its Bangor TAC after outreach from Maine's delegation.

Click here to read the letter in full.

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