IRD close offices and call centre today for staff announcement

Inland Revenue will close offices four hours early today for a staff announcement. Picture / File photo.

Inland Revenue is shutting its offices four hours early today and closing its call centre for more than two hours so staff can hear about "changes at organisation."

The government department, which employed 5,789 people as at June last year, said the public could still sort their tax affairs online or use its automated phone service during this time.

"Inland Revenue is closing some services today so that all of its staff can hear about changes to the organisation. Contact centres will be closed from 12.45pm to 3.30pm. Offices will close from 1pm until the end of the day," IRD said in a statement today.

A spokesman said IRD would not be commenting on what the changes were until after staff had been told.

The organisation is part-way through a business transformation plan, the first stage of which was about encouraging taxpayers to manage their own affairs using digital channel and improving its digital platforms.

In March last year, IRD announced it would cut 1500 jobs "across the board" between 2018 and 2021. The workforce would shrink by 25 to 30 per cent.

The transformation plan is part of a $1 billion plus modernisation of the tax system and the biggest change to the system in 25 years.

A spokesman for the Public Service Association said he didn't what to speculate on the staff announcement before it was made.