Half of Northern Ireland's tax offices may be closed down as part of a five-year efficiency programme.
Under the plan, over 200 jobs will be cut by April 2008. Proposals will be put to staff for consultation next summer.
Mr Mike Hanson, Director General of Revenue and Customs, stressed the planned closures were focused on outlying districts rather than in Belfast.
He said: "We have 21 offices in Northern and we are looking at about 10-12 closing because we have just too much space. "We have 40% more office accommodation than we need. But we are not going to close any of our face to face centres. Customer contact will continue."
More than £5m is spent annually on property costs in the North, but it is thought the proposed streamlining would save over £1.6m a year by 2010.
Mr Hanson was in Belfast to detail the impact of a £2.5 billion national programme of change within the HMRC over the next five years.
The blueprint was developed following the merger of the former Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise in April last year.
With the vision for a modern collection and enforcement department involving a British government target of cutting 12,500 of its 100,000 posts across the UK, the North will also be impacted by the reductions.
"We have about 2,500 staff, we will be losing about 8-9% of those and we are already half way through that in line with the general efficiency drive," Mr Hanson said.
It is hoped that voluntary redundancies and natural wastage will account for all of those being laid off, he added. All staff across the organisation are to be asked about its planned future shape and direction in a series of regional consultations, with the North pencilled in for next June.
"People will have to make judgements and consider their own options," said Mr Hanson.