Apr 11, 2002 By James Pletcher Jr. 5 min read

Tax preparation companies and accountants are bustling this time of year, thanks to the annual rush to file federal and state income tax returns before the midnight Monday deadline. And it appears most of the last-minute customers steaming into their offices are those who owe the government rather than those expecting a nice refund check.

“We handle them as they come in,’ said Connie Mort, a tax professional at H&R Block in Uniontown. “Right now we have been about even with the people coming in getting a refund or having to pay, but it’s usually the ones who owe (tax) who wait until the last minute.”

Given the proverbial complexities of the U.S. Tax Code, Mort said H&R Block employees keep up with the changes by “going back to school each year. There are some computer programs available that take care of the math, but they don’t do anything for the theory. There is also much more electronic filing this year, through the computer.’

As far as specific questions taxpayers are coming in with, Mort said a “lot of people have taken their pensions early. There are a lot of people who have stock losses. That’s a big thing this year. It seems more and more people are also starting to itemize as they learn what they can itemize.’

Mort said H&R Block professionals tell customers to bring in anything that has “IRS’ on it.

“We classify them all as income tax documents. W2s, 1099s, 1098s, we tell them any form that states IRS should be brought in to us,’ she said. “There are just a lot of questions people are asking. One is on the rebate check people got this past summer. That money is not taxed but we are asking to see what amount the customer received to make sure they got the full amount.’

Mort said there is even a quicker way to get a refund.

“That’s Rapid Refund. It goes through the computer and once it is accepted by the IRS, within 24 hours a bank can print a check.’

Larry Barchetti, owner of Barchetti Financial Services, Uniontown, advised that people seeing a tax preparer “need to keep good records of all of their expenses, such as mortgage interest, real estate taxes and contributions, both cash and non-cash, meaning clothing to places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army. They need to keep track of income and expenses, their W2s and 1099s and if they have child-care expenses,’ he said.

While the tax code changes, Barchetti said he keeps current by getting upgrades.

“Most of the changes we see are just number changes, like the increase in the IRA deduction or personal exemption. It’s still a difficult process but with the new software today it’s not as difficult as it was for preparers.’

Barchetti said his firm “does its share of business returns, but we also have a large number of individuals we serve. We can do everything from the simple EZ return all the way up to corporate, fiduciary and non-profits.’

Lolita Sharp of Sharp and Sharp Public Accountants, Uniontown, agreed with Barchetti on the computer software available.

“Part of the complexity of the tax return is helped with some of the new software programs that are out, and we are doing more and more on the computer and less and less by hand,’ she said.

But changes sometimes are rapid fire.

“Just this tax season alone we have had four updates to our software programs. But every time something changes, they are very good about notifying us. That’s been a real bonus to tax preparers,’ she said.

Next year, Sharp and Sharp plans to be an approved IRS early refund site, she added.

“That’s a good service for folks in our area.’

For those visiting hers and other services, Sharp said taxpayers should take a copy of last year’s tax return.

“We have a form for them to fill out as well that lists Social Security numbers, birth dates, and they must bring in their W2s, 1099s and any other pertinent forms for the activity they have had for the past year.’

“The tax code is getting more and more involved,’ said John Nypaver of Uniontown, who operates his own preparation service.

“For 2001, there weren’t too many changes, but for next year (2002 filing season) there will be more. We have to go to school three or four times at the end of the year. We take courses on the code and its changes. We still have a lot of publications we buy in order to make sure we can remember all those things,’ he said.

While he is not getting too many calls from individuals at present, Nypaver said he will turn some away if he is too busy.

“That’s all you can do.’

For Nypaver, “one of the things people forget to bring in is estimated tax, what they paid during the year. The bigger issue is when they sell stock. They never bring in paperwork on how much they paid for it, and that becomes quite involved, especially when you have stocks that split or break away into another company.

“You have to make sure you know what you are doing, putting it into a computer, where to put it and have the right information. That takes time.’