The Idaho State Tax Commission will scale back face-to-face assistance at five field offices starting Aug. 2.
Officials say the offices in Lewiston, Coeur d’Alene, Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Twin Falls will remain open, but workers there will focus instead on collections and audits. Amid budget cuts, the agency has decided it can handle taxpayer queries more efficiently by routing them through its call center in Boise rather than addressing them in person.
After the changes, walk-in services will be offered during the week preceding the April 15 and Oct. 15 income tax filing deadlines, as well as on the 20th of each month, to help taxpayers meet filing deadlines for sales tax and income tax withholding.
Meanwhile, Idaho’s top tax collectors are donating vacation time to an employees’ leave fund after they were barred from taking unpaid furloughs.
The fund provides paid time off for state employees who have exhausted their leave due to personal or family illness.
The furlough issue emerged last month, when the four commissioners at the Idaho State Tax Commission learned they couldn’t voluntarily turn down their full $85,000 salaries, according to state law. By then, however, they’d already taken 292 hours of furlough, worth nearly $12,000, as part of efforts to save the agency money and show solidarity with workers facing wage cuts.
With their vacation donations, the commissioners aim to ease any chagrin that they’d still get paid for time they took off. (AP)
