University Daily Kansan / Wednesday. April 15, 1992
11
Professional tax preparers brace for rush
Last-minute filers estimated to be near 20 million
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — From the man who says, "Let's just make up some more deductions," to the woman who files her returns eight years at a time, professional tax preparers have seen it all. Now they are bracing for a rush by millions who have a habit of filing on April 15.
"There's always a lot of panic at this time of year," said Donna Halligan, who oversees seven Jackson Hewitt Tax Service offices in Syracuse, N.Y. "They expect us to pull off miracles at the last minute."
"We've had spouses fighting, people crying, people afraid the IS is going to take their house tomorrow because they can't pay," adds Harry Buckley, president of tax operations at H&R Block. Inc. in Kansas City.
Because of the battered economy, millions of taxpayers made an extra effort to file early this year. Nevertheless, the Internal Revenue Service figures that up to 20 million may have waited until the last two or three days before the midnight today deadline.
Taxpayers who owe can face stiff penalties and interest if they fail to file on time. There is a considerably smaller penalty for not paying any balance by the deadline.
But there is no late-filing penalty for
the 80 percent of taxpayers who are due refunds, meaning there is little reason to risk a mistake by rushing to mail a return. Although the IRS eventually could pursue criminal charges against someone who refuses to file, the only practical sanction is that the right to a refund is lost after three years unless a return is filed.
About 5 million couples and individuals are expected to file Form 4868 instead of their returns. That will give them an extra four months — until Aug. 17 — to file a return. They still must estimate how much tax they owe and enclose a check with the request for extension.
The IRS, acting with unusual speed yesterday, granted an extra week of filing and paying time to taxpayers and their return preparers who are affected directly by the flooding in downtown Chicago. A return, payment or extension postmarked by midnight April 22 will be considered on time.
The IRS expects 114 million couples and individuals to file returns this year. Through Friday, 75 million returns had been received, 64.1 million had been processed and 51.6 million refunds averaging $975 apiece had been certified.
About 50 percent of taxpayers hire professionals to prepare their returns, and as might be expected, things get a little hictc in the final hours.
"With all the pressure people are under, they come in and get real tense, then when they see others in the same boat, they lighten up," said Ray Hite, who oversees H&R Block operations in
Tax Freedom Day by state
SOURCE: Tax Foundation
the Washington area.
Repeat customers know how the tax system works and what records they need, said Peggy Selby, a Jackson Hewitt manager in Dallas. "But one guy who found out that he owed tax said, 'Let's just make up some more deductions.' And a woman who was being sued for not paying her doctor insisted she was entitled to deduct the entire bill."
The most memorable case for Betty Hackworth, who runs a Jackson Hewitt office in Virginia Beach, Va., was the woman who rushed into the office six hours before the deadline and decided the time had come to file her returns for the last eight years.
"It took four tax preparers the rest of the night but we got the returns in the mail before midnight," Hackworth recalled.
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