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IRS SHUTS DOWN!

June 30, 2006

Well, sort of.

The good news first, from an IRS press release (no link yet):

WASHINGTON -- The IRS Headquarters Building at 1111 Constitution Ave. NW in Washington is likely to remain closed for at least 30 days due to flooding and electrical outages.

The building sustained extensive damage to the infrastructure, office furniture and supplies.

The subbasement was submerged in more than 20 feet of water. The subbasement holds all of the building's electrical and maintenance equipment such as electrical transformers, electrical switchgears, and chillers. Although these systems require closer inspection, they appear to be 95 percent damaged or destroyed.

But all is not sweetness and light:

Repairs to the headquarters building will not impact the IRS's service and enforcement operations during this period.

All IRS business units have extensive business resumption plans that have been executed. The 2,400 employees who work at the headquarters building are being relocated to the other 12 buildings IRS occupies in the metro area or into temporary space, and some will telecommute as appropriate.

Oh, well. One can't have all that one would want...

I was in that building, I believe in 1988. It was a very spooky and weird place, with hallways that seemed to go on for ever. It looked like it was last decorated in 1946 with paint left over from the battleship program. If the Soviet Union were to take over, I thought, that's where they would have the U.S. KGB headquarters. At least now it gets a clean-up.

The TaxProf has more.

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