THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603270045
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
WITH APRIL 15 just days away, life is taxing Leslie Marcus.
``Right now, I'm working 80 hours a week. I can't even go to WalMart for soap if I need it,'' said the certified public accountant, who lives in Norfolk.
That's what happens to accountants this time of year. They write off their personal lives in favor of their clients' finances.
Marcus files people's tax returns in a narrow storefront location she runs in Chesapeake Square Mall. A small sign in the window counts down the days till the deadline.
``I think of this kind of like a tax boutique,'' she said. Homey little touches - live plants, a dish of butterscotch candies, comfy chairs - take the edge off a duty lots of people hate.
But the University of Virginia grad just loves it.
``It's like a puzzle,'' she said. ``It's a challenge. I actually like it when people come in and ask me something I don't know.''
A lot of drop-ins ask for tax forms. Marcus doesn't have any - she files everything electronically. People get her, some computer time and not a lot of giggles.
``It's not a funny business,'' Marcus said. ``People's money is involved, and when it's their money, they're not laughing.''
Grim-faced taxpayers have been trotting in since January in a pretty steady stream. Her clients usually have one thing in common - ``A lot of people don't know anything about taxes and they don't want to know. They just want somebody to do it for them,'' she said. Somebody like her.
The earlybirds, first to file, usually rush in because they're expecting money back, Marcus said. Most of them come in with their papers neatly clipped and stacked and are ready to sign on the dotted line.
But in about 10 days, it'll be ``panic time. That's about April 13 or 14th,'' Marcus said.
That's when the laggards drag in. They've usually put off filing, since they know they'll owe Uncle Sam.
``They're also usually less organized,'' said Marcus. She's seen her share of wrinkly, slightly damp W-2 forms that have ridden around in back pockets for weeks.
But none of that bothers her. It's enough that people make themselves do it.
And do it they must.
``It's important to pay taxes on time because if you owe, the penalties are onerous,'' she said. The penalty for failure to file is 5 percent per month - after five months on $1,000 owed, that's a $250 fine, or, as Marcus said, ``a big chunk.''
``This is a necessary evil,'' she said, sympathetically. ``They know they have to do their tax return and I'm helping them.''
She straightens people out in a hurry, especially if they're about to make a typical tax blunder. She tells them, nope, they can't deduct their phone bill for a home business if it's also used as a private line. Yes, unemployment income is taxable and should be paid quarterly. And, yes, it is usually cheaper for spouses to file jointly.
Those joint returns can be interesting.
``Oh, spouses have yelled at each other right here,'' Marcus said, nodding at the chairs across from her desk.
And every tax season Marcus gets an earful about real estate agents.
``That's another time people get upset - when they think their agent has lied to them. They don't seem to understand when they've bought too late in the year to get a deduction for mortgage interest and real estate taxes,'' she said.
Marcus, 33, thinks she got interested in working with numbers because her dad always has. He's an auditor for the Internal Revenue Service.
``I'm sure that had something to do with it,'' she said, and then laughed. ``But you don't grow up as a child dreaming of becoming a CPA.''
Maybe not. Still, it makes great small talk at cocktail parties.
``When I meet people they always ask me a tax question,'' said the Ghent resident.
One might be how to go about getting an extension. Marcus can't remember the last time she paid her own taxes on time.
``I'm sure I'll get an extension. I'm busy and I'm tired of doing taxes and I don't want do to mine,'' she said, making a face. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
JIM WALKER/The Virginian-Pilot
Leslie Marcus, a CPA, is working 80-hour weeks as the April 15 tax
deadline nears.
by CNB