Another 700 Scots tax jobs are expected to be shed and 19 revenue and customs centres face closure in the latest round of Whitehall's efficiency drive.

Across the UK as a whole, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) intends to axe almost 4000 posts and shut 95 offices, sparking fury among union leaders who claim the ability of the department to collect revenues and provide tax advice to the public and local businesses would be undermined by the closures.

The closures and cuts, which will be the subject of a eight-week consultation, will take place between now and 2011. Although the cuts will be achieved through voluntary redundancies and natural wastage, union leaders also claim the burden of relocation will force many out of the service.

HMRC claims that the move is necessary to enable the service to work more efficiently, improve customer service, provide better value for money, and that no final decision had been made on which offices would close.

Around 15,000 jobs have already been cut across the UK over the past four years, with 165 offices already earmarked for closure or in the process of closing. An estimated 2000 of these have been lost or are in the process of being cut in Scotland, mainly in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The Public and Commercial Services union has claimed staff are already faced with a backlog of work and are operating in an atmosphere of poor morale, while the latest closures will accelerate the loss of skilled and experienced staff.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said the announcement was "part of a crude drive to slash jobs and cut costs which will leave HMRC unable to deliver quality public services".

Most of the offices expected to shut in Scotland are in outlying or rural areas, and 1200 of the 1870 staff who will be retained will move to larger urban centres including East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Aberdeen and Ayr. Offices in Ullapool and Lerwick are not being considered for closure.

The raft of offices includes the A-listed Greenock Custom House, the historic base for excisemen on the Clyde, seen as a symbol of the service in Scotland and Inverclyde's maritime history.

The others include Greenock's other HMRC office, Rothesay, Dunoon, Oban, Irvine, Falkirk, Grangemouth, Stirling, Galashiels, Hawick, Dumfries, Dunfermline, Perth, Peterhead, Buckie, Elgin, Wick and Inverness.

Union sources yesterday claimed Glenrothes, neighbouring Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Kirkcaldy constituency, also faced closure but secured a last-minute reprieve. The HMRC office in Kirkcaldy is not under review.

John Davidson, a member of the PCS's HMRC group executive committee, who is based at East Kilbride, said the announcement confirmed what the union had suspected for some time.

He added: "There's voluntary and there's voluntary. People may decide to go but others in places like Wick, Elgin or Buckie with caring responsibilities may not be able to relocate. Not having to pay relocation costs would suit HMRC fine."

Mr Serwotka said: "Access to tax advice in communities will be damaged by these proposals, hitting businesses and the public in rural towns and villages as well as taking quality jobs out of local communities.

"We will be campaigning to keep as many offices open as possible, as job cuts are already damaging HMRC's ability to function and undermining public confidence, with an estimated £42bn in tax going uncollected and corporate tax avoidance totalling over £11.8bn a year."

Liberal Democrat Scotland spokesman Michael Moore said: "The UK Government has made great play of its policy of locating civil service jobs outside the major cities, but today's announcement reveals this to be an utter fallacy."

Mary Hay, the Revenue and Customs director responsible for the programme, said: "This is the next stage in our consultation process. No final decisions have been made."

"The consultation with staff, trade unions and other stakeholders is part of a review to determine which buildings the department will occupy in a number of cluster' and individual' locations within Scotland."