usiness
t's tax time. With the Mon-
day, April 17, filing deadline
rapidly approaching (April 15
falls on a Saturday), those
who haven't mailed their re-
turns are beginning to
scramble and perhaps
panic a bit.
Meanwhile, a crackdown by the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
on fraud is meaning delays for
many who have filed.
Figures issued last week by the
IRS showed 11.4 percent fewer re-
turns than last year had been
processed by March 10 and the
number of refunds had declined
17.3 percent. The average
refund was $1,040, down
from $1,077.
In addition, electronic
filing was down 19 per-
cent.
In all, about 4 million of
the 32 million returns had
been reviewed by the IRS.
Here's the latest from
some local tax profession-
als:
Mr. Gittleman said. "They have
10 years to collect back taxes, and
apparently they've realized that
they're better off trying to get
some money early than waiting
until later."
Another of the IRS's major
crackdowns this year is on inde-
pendent contractors. If an em-
ployer provides a worker with a
place to work, equipment, or con-
trols a worker's hours in an way,
then the worker can be consid-
ered an employee.
"The IRS finds it easier to col-
lect from companies instead of in-
dividuals because companies
have more to lose," Mr. Gittleman
said.
A Quick Look
At Kwik Tax
This is the fourth tax season for
Kwik Tax, a Southfield-based in-
come-tax service which does
house calls. A Kwik Tax repre-
sentative will come to a taxpay-
er's home, apartment or place of
work to prepare the client's tax
returns.
Kwik Tax owner Lawrence
Levy, 24, says he has noticed two
trends this season: more clients
who haven't filed for a few years
More Of Us
Will Be Audited
Troy tax attorney Steve
Gittleman has some bad
Lawrence Levy
helps
Karin Locklear
with her taxes.
or still owe back taxes and frus-
trations with the electronic filing
system because of the IRS crack-
down.
"I'm doing returns for a client
right now for 1992, 1993 and
1994," Mr. Levy said.
"We have what we call our
Kwik Fix Department, which
can help taxpayers who are be-
hind on their filing, owe back
taxes, or are being audited. This
is in association with Louis Levy
CPA."
Louis Levy, Lawrence's fa-
ther, is the co-founder of Kwik
Tax along with his son. Because
Lawrence now owns the compa-
ny, Louis devotes his time
to his private practice. His
office is next door to Kwik
Tax.
Kwik Tax's charges include
$18 for a 1040EZ form, $12 for
a Michigan 1040, $25 for a Fed-
eral 1040, $19 for Schedule B
(interest and dividend income),
$11 for Schedule SE (self-em-
ployment tax) and $25 for elec-
tronic filing.
For the client who needed his
federal, state and Detroit taxes
done for 1992-94, the fee was
$180.
Discounts are offered for first-
-
time and repeat clients and
( 2, there is an incentive program
3- = for client referrals. All tax re-
. turns are reviewed and filed by
a CPA.
"I'm anticipating
we'll double our num-
ber of clients this sea-
son from last season,"
said Mr. Levy, who
was a prelaw major at
Michigan State Uni-
versity. "I hope we'll
service between 2,500
and 3,500 taxpayers."
Currently, Kwik
Tax has 11 employees.
It normally has six.
The Internal Revenue Service.
is taking a closer look at many returns.
STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER
ituation
news: He says the IRS's desire
to increase its compliance rate
from the current 83 percent to
90 percent by the year 2001
means more taxpayers will be
audited this year.
The IRS figures it loses at least
$127 billion in uncollected taxes
each year.
"In the past, about 1 percent of
the returns were audited. This
year, the number is expected to
increase to 1.5 percent," Mr. Git-
tleman said. "The IRS is taking
especially closer looks at cash
businesses and people who are
self-employed."
The IRS also is checking what
it calls "economic reality,"
whether a taxpayer's reported in-
come is consistent with his or her
lifestyle.
"On the other hand, the IRS's
attitude toward offers and corn-
promise appears to be changing,"
95 WAYs You CAN
SAVE TAXES IN '95
Tax attorney Steve Gittleman.
The cover of the
"fun" tax book.
.iii) N. 1,101.0)F, cp.k .
TtiliN. (1 ) 1
L.W,14ENCE \1.
M.S.T.
N1 \R11,1 \ R. \ k. 11:11111.,
95 Tax Tips
Will Cost You $9.95
Morof,
Howard
Lawrence Slutsky and
Marilyn Natchez of
Morof Sheplow Wein-
stein certified public
accountants and
consultants in Farm-
ington Hills have pub-
lished 95 Ways You
Can Save Taxes in '95.
The 100-page book
is being sold at area
bookstores. The sug-
gested retail price?
$9.95, of course.
Mr. Morof says the
intent of the book isn't
to make the reader a
tax expert, just some-
one who can talk intel-
ligently about taxes
TAXING page 46