Trade union bosses fear a tax enquiries office in Preston city centre could be shut up a wave of office closures.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said the office at Charles House on Winckley Square could be targeted as part of plans to shut face-to-face enquiry offices.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced yesterday it intends to offer a new service to 1.5m people who need extra help with their tax affairs which will see 13 centres shut in the North East.
If the trials are successful, the remaining centres out of the current total of 281 will close next year.
Lynne Wallace, the union’s representative for HMRC in the city, said the closure of Charles House would only lead to “a handful” of job losses.
She said: “It is an a total reneging on what was promised by the previous Government to retain the face-to-face element of tax advice for people.
“A lot of people do not have access to online services and telephone services and yet this Government is forcing people to accept a faceless service.
“We have already seen a reduction in staff at Charles House and this could see the end of it.”
HMRC chief executive Lin Homer said the changes would enable a more “flexible and affordable” service for people.
It claims the changes to save almost £12m a year in lost time and travel costs, and will be more than £13m a year cheaper to run than the current service.
The number of people visiting the 281 centres has halved from five million in 2005/6 to fewer than 2.5 million in the past year.
The average cost per visit was £152 last year, compared with £3 per phone call and 9p per online transaction, said HMRC.
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