Rich Are Different Even at Tax Deadline Time

Somewhere in the city, pencils are snapping today. Brows are furrowing. Math is imitating art.

But not over the tax form of, say, Lisa Bell, a portrait artist and an heir to the Bloomingdale estate.

“I guess I must be filing for a, what do you call it? An extension?” Bell sighed. “All I know is my accountant just sent a piece of paper I’m supposed to sign and mail.”

Ditto for Beverly Hills dentist Hal Millstone. Millstone said his accountant “has been working on (his) taxes for probably six weeks” to maximize the downside of another financially successful year. What this means, he said, is that his tax form is being completed “in dribs and drabs,” and he, too, will ask for extra time.

The rich are different, as the saying goes, and that goes for rich taxpayers, accountants say.

For one thing, their taxes tend to be so complex that they do not bother to push the filing deadline (midnight tonight)--instead they either routinely get filing extensions or file periodically all year long.

Rich people’s taxes “are definitely a headache,” said Bel-Air accountant Mike Sedgwick. “With wealthy clients, the amount of paperwork increases exponentially.”

At the same time, however, no one likes tax-time surprises, and that seems to go double for the rich.

“You just can’t go and tell someone on April 14, ‘Hey, I need a check (to the IRS) for a million-two,’ ” said Arthur Andersen & Co.’s Ken Anderson, whose office annually handles the taxes for about 200 of the city’s wealthiest executives, sports figures and celebrities.

Consequently, accountants say, the well-off tend to know long in advance what their tax liability will be, and do not feel the stress that those in midlevel brackets experience. The pain and Angst of the tax deadline, experts say--like the bulk of the tax bill itself--seems to be a middle-class thing.

Consider the atmosphere Tuesday in Anderson’s 32nd-floor office, high above the din of downtown Los Angeles. Far below, the masses scurried to nail down that one last deduction. But along the wood-paneled cubicles housing Anderson’s troops, it was as calm as a church.

“Most of it’s done, really, and a lot of it has been done for some time,” he said, leaning forward on his perfectly clean desk.

He said most of his clients knew what their tax bill would be months ago--including a handful who, because of deductible business losses and tax-free investments, will pay no income taxes this year at all.

Coincidentally, accountants said, the tax-time stress level seems to be equally low at the other end of the financial continuum.

“Most of the wage-earners have not only filed by now, they’ve gotten their refunds,” said Eileen Brown, manager at the H&R; Block office on Western Avenue near downtown. Many, she said, made the effort to file early this year because of the rugged economy.

Still, even the best-laid plans--or the best-feathered nest--cannot altogether remove the sting of the IRS.

“Oh, I owe,” said heiress Bell, with a laugh. “Oh, yes. Major owing. Major. Definitely.”