Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has axed its Fife office, with the loss of 54 jobs.
Staff at Saltire House in Glenrothes have been told told their office will close in December 2015.
So far 27 of the Glenrothes staff have accepted voluntary redundancy.
However, at the same time as planning workforce reductions, HMRC is starting to recruit 2,100 staff in priority areas, including personal taxation the focus of work in Glenrothes.
Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “It makes absolutely no economic sense to continue cutting in the department that collects the taxes that fund the public services we all rely on.
“This political and economic vandalism is even more stark and outrageous when, even by the department’s own modest estimate, tens of billions of pounds is lost to our public finances largely through tax evasion and avoidance.”
Glenrothes and Central Fife MP Lindsay Roy slammed the decision as “a hammer blow for Glenrothes”.
He added: “This is just another example of centralisation.
“We have a skilled workforce at HMRC in Glenrothes and they deserve better.”
Mr Roy argued that rental for office property in the Glenrothes area is less than in other areas.
He said: “It’s cheaper to get office space here compared with Edinburgh or London, and there is an opportunity to extend the work of HMRC in Glenrothes with the skill base already in place.
“There is the capacity to enhance training with the expertise of the workforce already in place.”
HMRC defended the closures saying the automation of many of its processes meant it was changing how it conducted business.
A spokesperson said: “In line with our spending review settlements, HMRC is continuing to reduce in size, to become more highly-skilled and to operate from fewer locations.
“We are also changing the way we work to better meet the rising expectations of our customers and help them ensure they get things right.
“We have confirmed the date of 14 office closures, which we announced to staff in June after sharing the likelihood of closure last autumn, and announced further reductions in the number of administrative roles as a result of increased automation and digitisation.”
Picture by George McLuskie