Threatened tax offices 'a lifeline'

%VIRTUAL-SkimlinksPromo%All 281 walk-in tax offices in the UK are to close and a new service will open, in a move unions warned put 1,300 jobs at risk.

HM Revenue and Customs said only a small minority of its 40 million customers used the centres, and demand halved from five million visitors in 2005-06 to fewer than two million in 2013.