IRS Move to Costa Rica | Snopes.com

IRS Move to Costa Rica | Snopes.com

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CLAIM:   The IRS has moved its offices from Washington, D.C., to Costa Rica. STATUS:   _FALSE._ EXAMPLE:   _[Collected via e-mail, 2007]_ The IRS seems to have disappeared from Washington,


D.C. There are some "strong" rumors coming to us today that some very major things are going to begin to happen in our country (and around the world) starting possibly as early as


tomorrow. These "may" be rumors or they may not be — only time will tell. Our researcher just got back from Washington, D.C., and he confirmed that the IRS has moved out of 1111


Constitutional Avenue and only security police are there. Empty building. I know for a fact that a large chunk of the IRS has been moved to Costa Rica. ORIGINS:   Although many a taxpayer


may dream of the day when the Internal Revenue Service closes up shop or find a delicious irony in the IRS' offshoring itself to a place such as Costa Rica (as if to escape its own tax


liability), the agency hasn't really gone anywhere. A torrential downpour that hit Washington, D.C., on 25 June 2006 shut down the IRS, the Justice Department, the National Archives,


and other nearby buildings, flooding the basement facilities of IRS headquarters at 1111 Constitution Avenue with an estimated 5.5 million gallons of water. The sub-basement containing the


building's electrical systems was submerged under 20 feet of water, and food service areas, computer equipment, and offices in the basement were damaged as well. Most of the 2,000


employees at "eleven-eleven" were moved to temporary cubicles and offices in New Carrollton, Maryland, where — despite initial projections of a 30-day closure of the Constitution


Avenue facility — they remained for several months, hence creating the impression that the IRS had "disappeared from Washington, D.C." However, most of the displaced workers


returned to the 1111 Constitution Avenue facility in December 2006, and IRS headquarters in Washington is once again humming with activity. LAST UPDATED:   25 January 2007


-------------------------   _Sources:_ *     Barr, Stephen.   "IRS Employees Return Nearly 6 Months After Flooding Closed Headquarters."     _The Washington Post_   11 December


2006   (P. D4).