IRS Headquarters Building in Washington

"The building will be closed for an extended period of time, and we will reoccupy it only when it is safe to do so," said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson. "We're working closely with GSA to make all necessary repairs."

[ Editor's Note:  Read July 12 update ]

The IRS building, located at 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, 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, and early estimates say they are 95 percent damaged or destroyed.

In addition, the basement was flooded with five feet of water. The fitness center, food service canteens, offices, systems furniture, carpet, ceiling tiles, computer equipment and vehicles garaged in the building were all destroyed.

While an assessment of total damage will not be completed for several more days, costs are expected to run in the tens of millions of dollars.

Water is continuing to be pumped from the subbasement. Between six and 12 pumps have been running since Monday to clear the water from the building, and it is expected the subbasement will not be completely emptied until Friday, an IRS statement said.

An initial clean-up and decontamination crew began cleanup efforts in the basement level Wednesday. By Friday, two crews of 50 will be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week until cleanup is complete.

However, repairs to the headquarters building will not impact the IRS's service and enforcement operations during this period, the IRS said. 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.

Temporary address established

Because of the temporary closure of the main IRS Headquarters Building, there is a temporary change of address for the delivery of taxpayer requests for rulings, requests for determination letters, Applications for Change in Accounting Method (Form 3115), and similar requests that are permitted to be hand-delivered to the main IRS Headquarters Building.

Until further notice, these requests and applications should be delivered to the IRS offices at 950 L'Enfant Plaza, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20024. 

Complaints, subpoenas or any other service of process, as well as public comments on published guidance such as proposed regulations, normally delivered to the main IRS Headquarters Building should also be temporarily delivered to this same address.

Documents previously hand-delivered to the main IRS Headquarters Building will be processed in the ordinary course.