The centers to be spared are in the capital city's Muskie Federal Building, at Western Avenue and Sewall Street; and another on Maine Mall Road in South Portland.

The IRS had announced earlier it would close 68 of 400 taxpayer assistance centers across the nation, but the reversal Friday applies to all 68 centers.

The Augusta and South Portland offices are among the state's larger IRS offices. Closure of the centers would have affected seven IRS employees in Augusta.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, wrote a letter on June 1 to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, expressing her concerns about closing the taxpayer assistance centers throughout the country.

Snowe cited poor people and those who don't speak English the centers' most frequent clients, and she added that it would be even more difficult for them and others to file their taxes if the centers were closed.

More than 7.6 million people used the walk-in IRS centers last year, down from 9 million the year before.

"I am pleased that Commissioner Everson was able to preserve Taxpayer Assistance Centers in Maine and across the country," Snowe said in a statement Friday. "These centers provide services to taxpayers, many of whom are non-English-speaking persons, who would not be able to meet their income tax obligations otherwise," she said.

Everson cited the walk-in sites as offering the most costly service, and said the agency found taxpayers prefer to use toll-free lines for assistance.