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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 15, 1993                   TAG: 9304150088
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JESSICA MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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TAX PREPARERS FACING MANY `COMPLICATED RETURNS'

Most have done their taxes. Those that have not are probably sitting at home doing them.

The agony over small details makes a lot of people view completing their tax returns as "a necessary evil to be put off until the last minute," said Hope Player, a certified public accountant.

"People are filing their taxes later this year than last because many of them owe. Some owe for good reasons, because 1992 was a good year. Others are getting surprised by the withholding taxes."

But not everyone has put tax returns off, according to Joel Lytton, district manager for H&R Block. "Our busiest time is in February. The people coming in now usually have more records to get together, so a lot of returns we're seeing now are complicated returns," he said.

"We also have a number of people coming in the 14th and the 15th, like they do every year. We're ready for them. We stay here until we get them all out by midnight."

For taxpayers willing to face the forms themselves, there are books and software for personal computers. But booksellers say they haven't been overrun with people wanting how-to tax guides.

"We haven't sold more tax return books than usual this year. We sell most of them in the fall, when they come out. People who come in know what they want," said Frances Little, an employee at Books, Strings & Things in downtown Roanoke.

Beth Garst, manager of Ram's Head Bookstore in Tanglewood. "To be honest, I don't remember selling very many - 10 or 12, but not a whole lot."

And Sharon Satterfield, assistant manager of Waldenbooks in Tanglewood Mall, said she thought 20 or 25 books a year sold there.

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