‘It Can Get Hairy’ : Tax Advisers Also Dread the Deadline

Dee Rogers describes this time of the year in taxing terms. Almost like being on a drug, she says. Exhilarating highs, then abrupt lows. Lack of sleep, tension, stress, snappish behavior toward colleagues and loved ones alike.

“You don’t sleep,” Rogers said. “You know how you feel when you don’t get any sleep. You think about it, take it home with you, wonder if everything is going to go smoothly. . . . When it’s finally over, you can’t get going again for a week.”

This is the season when your taxes are due, and no matter how anxious you may be about Tuesday’s filing deadline, it’s a good bet that tax preparers across the land are just as anxious, just as nervous and just as ready to get the whole thing over with.

Dee Rogers has been in the business of preparing tax returns for nearly 20 years, and while it is an often interesting, sometimes exciting profession, the mounting level of stress as April 15 approaches remains the same year after year, she says.

Rogers works as an office manager in her husband Don’s tax firm in Chula Vista. In the last three weeks before the filing deadline, the staff of four tax preparers have been working 16-hour days, six days a week. Together they may see as many as 50 people a day.

“We work mainly by appointment, but we hate to turn anybody away,” Rogers said. “We usually book hour appointments. There is no time for lunch, everything is brought in. Try even going to the bathroom around here at this time of the year. There is always somebody else waiting.”

Tax preparers and accountants around San Diego tell the same tale of woe: Most people still wait until the last minute before filing their returns, many of them have complicated schedules and tables to file, some want free information, some even want a free ride--using tax preparers to try to cheat the government of money they owe. All depend on the tax preparer to have everything collated and calculated by April 15.

“It’s still terrible,” said Lois Brozey, a CPA who works downtown. “Things get more complicated, and people wait till the very last minute. The IRS keeps adding new forms. I get the IRS Bulletin and almost weekly there is some correction in one of the forms. Try to prepare tax returns under those conditions. It can get hairy.”

Brozey has a largely business clientele and will prepare about 120 returns this year, but most of those will carry dozens of complicated schedules with them. Her staff is working 10-hour days, 7 days a week.

“It leaves no time for family or anything else; it’s very stressful,” Brozey said.

Having two tax professionals in the family can present even more of a problem. James Carter works as a systems analyst and office manager for his wife’s downtown firm. Carter said that both he and his wife Sue’s tolerance levels are tested during this hectic period.

“Generally we have a nice working relationship,” Carter said. “But during tax season we are more prone to be tired and testy with each other. Just the pressure of having a deadline and so much work to do makes you tired of it all.”

In fact, however, people in the tax business may be better off than people in other professions whose jobs cause them stress year-round. Health professionals who have studied stress and stress-related illnesses say that a certain level of stress for short durations may actually benefit overall well-being.

Dori Winchell, a psychologist who specializes in stress-related disorders, said that although tax preparers are under tremendous pressure for a period of time, most adjust and cope very well.

“This is definitely not a positive time of the year for people in the tax business,” Winchell said. “They are not getting a lot of strokes. But this stressful period is time-limited. Most people are able to gear themselves up, do the job and feel good about it afterward.”

Winchell said people in the tax business may be undergoing any number of problems at this point, including lack of sleep, eating disorders and fights with relatives. It doesn’t help that many people direct their anger about having to pay taxes at those who prepare the taxes, she said.

“But instead of becoming angry at the tax preparer, people should see if they can plan better for next tax year,” she said.

Peggy Howard, part owner of a bookkeeping and tax service in Kearny Mesa, said one of the worst aspects of the job is the anxiety load she must carry for her clients.

“Nearly everyone we see is upset,” Howard said. “There is so much fear in their hearts over the IRS.”

Another negative aspect is people who are clearly trying to cheat on their tax returns. People who have been in the business for a number of years learn to detect such people quickly, Howard said.

“You develop a sense for it,” she said. “You know when people are trying to construct things out of thin air. They have no records or somebody has told them that this or that will be a good tax shelter. They come to a tax preparer because they think that will lend legitimacy to their returns.”

Howard said the best thing people can do to help make life easier for tax preparers is to keep better records--careful expense tabs, monthly files if possible--and don’t start asking about 1986 returns until after April 15. While it is still possible to obtain an extension for filing 1985 returns, it will only extend the deadline for filing information and schedules, not the money you owe.