Accountants - Tax rush more hectic this year than in past

Accountant Lonnie Lusk can only assume his desk is still there.

"I haven't seen my desk since January," said Lusk, a CPA with the accounting firm of Schott and Van de Ven. That's when his office began to disappear beneath a steadily rising tide of income tax returns, which has now reached its crest.

It should come as no surprise that three days before the annual April 15 income tax deadline, local accountants and bookkeepers are fighting to tread a sea of 1040s and W2s.

But local CPAs agree that this year's high tide week has been more turbulent than most. They just can't agree on why.

At last week's end, the Missouri Department of Revenue reported that it had received and processed about 1.8 million returns. Jessica Robinson, public information officer for the Department of Revenue, said they expect upward of 2.5 million by the end of this week. That leaves more than 700,000 Missouri filers scrambling in the tax season's waning days.

"It's been a crazy year," said Cape Girardeau CPA Mary Hahn. "Everything seems to be running a week later."

Hahn said she attributes the extra last-minute rush to the fact that New Year's fell at the end of the week this year. She said that as a result, a lot of people didn't get back to work until the end of the first full week in January, and this may have had a ripple effect. She also said that an IRS revision of rules affecting qualified dividends on stocks made it necessary for brokerages to send out a second 1099 to customers. As a result, those investors had to wait until the end of February to receive their corrected statements.

Bookkeeper Beverly Koehler of Jackson said she's also noticed more of her usual January and February customers coming into her office in late March and early April this year. She said her clients have told her that their employers were simply late in getting their W2s out.

Other differences

Jeff Unterreiner, CPA and partner at Begley, Janssen, Young and Birk LC, also noticed a slow January. Unlike his colleagues, Unterreiner doesn't have a specific explanation for the unusually heavy late-season flow. He just chalked it up as one of a number of differences between 2004 and past years.

In addition to tax rates going down, Unterreiner said that the 2003 standard deduction went up from $7,850 to $9,500 for married couples filing jointly. That has led to a 10- to 15-percent drop in itemized returns at his office.

Unterreiner also said there's been an increase in individual audits this year, although he said it's not as bad as it sounds.

"The percentage of those audited will jump from half a percent to around 1 percent," Unterreiner said. "An audit is still very unlikely."

He said that most of the increase in audits will be computerized or mail audits, in which the IRS replaces the fearsome doorstep visit with a computer-produced letter requesting further financial records.

Electronic filing

Lusk said the turn to computers in tax season is also becoming apparent from the increase in electronic filing. The Department of Revenue considers this filing via the Internet or over the phone. Lusk attributes this to a nationwide push for electronic filing by the IRS. Robinson at the Department of Revenue agrees and said e-filing has a number of benefits.

"Returns filed by phone or the Web are processed six to seven days faster than those filed by paper," Robinson said.

An increase in tax return traffic on the Internet would probably be welcomed by the people at the Cape Girardeau post office. April 15 is always a circled date on the postal calendar, and because a leaky roof forced the office to relocate to 475 Kell Farm Drive earlier this year, the date has caught the post office a bit off guard.

But Dan Strauss, manager of customer services for the Cape Girardeau post office, said he expects to be prepared to handle the crowd.

Although the retail department will close at 5 p.m. Thursday, Strauss said that the outside box at Kell Farm Drive will be unloaded every hour throughout the evening, with the final pickup at just after midnight. All parcels picked up at that time will be postmarked April 15, to avoid being counted as late. Strauss emphasized that only the box at Kell Farm will be treated this way.

Strauss also warned that because of the tighter parking situation at Kell Farm Drive, last-minute filers should watch out for other drivers when pulling in and out of the parking lot.

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137