‘Simple’ IRS Form Can Be Taxing : Anxiety Rises as Deadline Nears

The question was posed at the Internal Revenue Service office in Santa Ana, where taxpayers were lining up Wednesday to get help with the new “simplified” tax forms:

Is filling out your own tax returns really simpler this year?

The consensus was a resounding yes and no.

Said gray-haired Stella Rush of Costa Mesa, sitting down with her cane propped against one knee and her forms on the other: “Ha! (Bleep) that! That’s a bunch of (bleep)! How could it be simplification when all the rules are changed and you know going in that the middle-class deductions have been taken away and they’re not taking enough out of your check to cover the taxes and they raised the tax rate too? It’s National Neurosis Week. This is the first time I’m going to be really late.”

But a man waiting in line thought everything was fine. “It’s simpler because I’m a Christian. That makes the difference.”

Why?

“Because I have more patience. I follow the Lord’s guidance as revealed through the Holy Spirit. And I don’t have very many deductions. It’s simpler for the aforementioned reasons.”

“God bless you,” he said as he was called to the window. The man who had stood behind him in line whispered, “God isn’t helping me .”

Few were willing to put their opinions on the record while standing in IRS-held territory. “No name,” said one woman. “I don’t want them after me.” Likewise, a man sitting on the floor and studying the tax return instruction booklet identified himself only as a Canadian citizen and visiting professor of computer science at UC Irvine since last summer who is married to an American citizen.

“I’m trying to find out how to declare $80 in interest from my checking account,” he said.

Did he succeed?

“I came close. But it is easier than last year.”

Lupe Ruiz of Brea, owner of a cleaning service, said the returns weren’t all that complicated, but they weren’t all that simple, either.

“It’s not as easy as they said they were supposed to be; let’s put it that way. I got a four-year college degree, and I had to read things three or four times.”

And was the IRS helping out? Again, yes and no.

Tom and Jean Dunn of San Clemente, needing to figure out just how much money they could withdraw from their individual retirement accounts, were on the IRS office phone for nearly 30 minutes but were happy with the information they got.

But Ms. No-Name was unsatisfied. “I called them twice on the same question. One said ‘yes’ and one said ‘no.’ They just didn’t know. They wanted to be helpful, but they just didn’t know.”

The IRS’s sampling of their own help lines showed that the advice given was correct only 75% of the time. (The federal General Services Administration estimated that they were right only 64% of the time.)

Judith Golden, an IRS public affairs officer in Laguna Niguel, appealed for understanding. The IRS is swamped this week before the Friday filing deadline. And the answers are not so much wrong as fuzzy.

“There are so many changes,” Golden said. “We’re talking about the most sweeping changes in 50 years. They completely rewrote the tax code. Maybe the answer someone gets is wrong, maybe it isn’t. Someone’s interpretation may be this way, but then clarifying rules come out and they take it in a slightly different direction.”

Greg Lewis, partner in the accounting firm of Elliott, Kearns & Co. of Tustin, said the tax law’s complexity has his firm “about two weeks behind in processing. Everything’s getting jammed. This week is just lunacy.”

Only the renter with simple sources of income has an easier time of it this year, he said. Almost everyone else is having a difficult time with the long-form return. And even though the result is higher fees for professional tax preparers, it is hardly a boon. “The client comes in, pays you more and winds up paying more taxes to boot. That’s not good for business,” Lewis said.

Steve Dicterow, a tax attorney and president of the Orange County Bar Assn.’s tax section, said the description of the tax law as more fair and simple is little more than “propaganda on the part of the government.”

“If they can’t figure it out, how can we? It’s anything but more simple, and it’s a move away from fairness. Some of these returns are going to be an inch thick, and it even costs more to mail them. The postal rates just went up.”

Last Friday, about 55% of Orange County’s expected tax returns still hadn’t been filed, according to the IRS. That has prompted postal officials to prepare for even more of a crush at post offices that remain open late Friday to receive the very-last-minute returns.

“Last year, about 50% of the returns from Orange County were filed April 14 and 15,” Golden said. “Now we have people having little extra problems. They’re going to be swamped.”

LAST-MINUTE TAX HELP

Where to get federal income tax forms:

24 hours a day at the Chet Holifield Building, 24000 Avila Road, Laguna Niguel.

8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Federal Building, 34 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana.

At some public libraries, post offices, banks and savings and loan branches. (Call first.)

Where to get state income tax forms:

8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the State Building, 28 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana.

At some public libraries, post offices, banks and savings and loan branches. (Call first.)

Where to ask questions about federal income tax returns:

Internal Revenue Service toll-free telephone number: (800) 424-1040 between 7:30 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Internal Revenue Service offices between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Offices are in the federal buildings at 24000 Avila Road, Laguna Niguel, and 34 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana.

Where to ask questions about state income tax returns:

Franchise Tax Board toll-free telephone number: (800) 852-5711 between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Franchise Tax Board offices in the State Building, 28 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The following post offices will accept and postmark mail until midnight on Friday, April 15, the deadline for filing returns:

Anaheim Main Post Office, 701 N. Loara St.

Laguna Beach Main Post Office, 29911 Niguel Road, Laguna Niguel.

Orange Main Post Office, 1075 N. Tustin Ave.

The following post offices will accept and postmark mail until midnight, April 15, and will offer full window services until 10 p.m. that night:

Santa Ana General Mail Facility, 3101 W. Sunflower Ave. at Susan Street. (Susan Street to be one way, northbound, this evening only).

Santa Ana North Grand Station, 2201 N. Grand Ave.

Will accept and postmark mail until midnight, April 15, and will offer full window services until 6 p.m. that night:

Huntington Beach Main Post Office, 6771 Warner Ave.

Will accept and postmark mail until 10 p.m., April 15, and will offer full window services until 10 p.m. that night:

Irvine Post Office, 17192 Murphy Ave.

After April 15, most offices and phone services will return to their normal operating hours.