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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1980)
Page 4 THE BATTALION TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1980 THE BATT> MONDAY. MARC Lunch C. K. Krumbottz serves of sandwiches, burgers, s super salad bar Join ui 2 p.m. Mon, through Fit Our super I spread of n and get Va f VISA' 815 Harvey Roac C5. WE'LL i NOT INTE GINEERir A U.S. N/ Battalion Classifieds Tax law reform confuses, penalizes tax preparers OFFICIAL NOTICE OFFICIAL NOTICE WANTED OFFICIAL NOTICE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE English Proficiency Examination ALL JUNIORS and SENIORS in curricula of the College of Science must take the English Proficiency Examination on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1980, at 7:30 p.m. BIOLOGY Department Curricula.... Room 113 BSBE CHEMISTRY Department Curricula Room 228CHEM MATH Department Curricula Room 101 Milner PHYSICS Department Curricula.... Room 301 RHYS In order to qualify as a candidate for a degree in the College of Science, each student must demonstrate an ability to express himself (or herself) in accept able English. This requirement may be satisfied by (1) passing an examina tion in English composition (ERE) taken not later than the spring semester of the junior year, or (2) completing English 301 with a minimum grade of “C”. ANY STUDENT WHO FAILS THE WRITTEN EXAMINA TION (ERE) MUST SATISFY THE ENGLISH PROFICIEN CY Requirement by taking English 301 and EARNING A MINIMUM GRADE OF “C”. For information and guidelines on the nature of the examination, check with ^ the departmental secretary. mt? Need any type work during Spring Break. 693- 2702. 114t3 Typing. Experienced, fast, accurate. All kinds 822-0544... Itfo United Press International NEW YORK — A big accounting firm preparing the tax return for a sizable Connecticut company erroneously included an extra $250 in the company’s $100,000 invest ment tax credit. The accounting firm was fined $100 for “negligence.” A reputable New York tax prepar er made a mistake on an individual’s Typing. Full time. Symbols. Notary Public. 823-7723... 76tfn CASH FOR OLD GOLD ' Class rings, wedding rings, worn ► gold jewelry, coins, etc. ► The Diamond Room Town & Country Shopping Cantor ^ 3731 E. 29th St., Bryan 846-4706 out MUSICIANS WANTED J N The band “JAZZ” is regrouping and needs a KEYBOARD PLAYER and DRUMMER. We currently work most weekends and some weeknights. Requirements: Keyboard- must read charts; Drummer- Have some ex perience and own set. Call Darlene for appointment, 10-5 Monday through Friday. L 845-3561 ii4t: HELP WANTED $500/thousand addressing and stuffing circu lars. Free information. Z J Enterprise/2318 Woodbum/Middletown, Ohio 45042 HOtlO Cooperative Education in the College of Liberal Arts needs a number of students for summer and fall placement in the Brazos County Bridgehouse. The students need to be of Junior, Senior, or Graduate classification. The pari time positions will pay S3 oer hour. For more information, please contact Susannah Clary or Henry D. Pope in Room 107. Harrington Tower or call 845-7814 114t4 WANTED FAST FOOD PERSONNEL Cooperative Education in the College ot Liberal Arts has an opportunity to place a student with Saudi Research & Marketing, Inc located in Houston. The student must be of at (east Junior classification and have a Journalism or Technical Writing major. For more information, please con tact Henry D. Pope or Susannah Clary at 845-7814 or come to 107 Harrington Tower. 11414 3.15/hr. Cooperative Education in the College of Liberal Arts has four positions available in the probation offices located in Caldwell and Bryan. The positions are for summer place ment and require students of Junior, Senior, or Graduate classification. Students will work as assistant probation officers on a full time basis. For more information, please contact Henry D. Pope or Susannah Clary in Room JOT, Harrington Tower or call 845-7814. 114(4 •FREE FOOD •PAID VACATIONS •ROOM FOR ADVANCEMENT •GOOD WORKING ENVIRONMENT *NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY FULL OR PART TIME 11 a.m.-2p.m. 7 p.m.-2 a.m. 5p.m.-2a.m. APPLY IN PERSON BETWEEN 9:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. 501 S. TEXAS AVE. FOR SALE FOR SALE 1971 Ford Torino Station Wagon. V-8, automa tic $1000 O.N.O. 693-2702. 114t4 Snow Ski Equipment: Rossignol Skis, Hanson Boots-Size 6, Poles. Only used twice. 693- 5703. H2t5 SPECIAL NOTICE Will care for your plants over Spring Break. 693-2702. 114t2 1974 MAZDA WAGON Needs some repair, $350 or best offer. Call Frank after 6 p.m. 845-3101 DANVERs Female - Part Time To work nights & weekends APPLY IN PERSON 201 Dominik, C.S. 34t? PERSONALS 'PROBLEM PREGNANCY? Free abortion counseling and referrals. Call (713) 779- 2258...62tfo Concerned about the plight of Humanity? We are!!! 696-1626. 114tl WEIGHT WATCHERS is a unique program of weight reduction that helps you to lose weight without starving and also shows you how to keep it off fore ver. College Station class meets Thursdays, 5:15, Lutheran Student Center, 315 N. College Main. For further information call 822-7303.losti CHAMPION CHIU RECIPE Quick, Easy $1.00 and stamped envelope P.O. Box1825 Uvalde, TX 78801 11315 DRAPERIES PLUS NEEDS SEAMSTRESSES! Immediate employment $3.10/hour plus. Hours negotiable. Call 823-5688 Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 11213 PREGNANCY TESTING Counselling on all alternatives and birth control methods. Women's Referral Center, 3910 Old College Road. 846-8437 NEEDRIDETO FT. COLLINS, COLORADO or nearby vicinity during Spring Break. Will help defray cost. Call 845-4951 before 5:00 pm. or 846-9260 after 5:00 pm. THE ORIGINAL TEAM CLEANING AGENCY Wants reliable, energetic employees with phone and car for residential or commercial cleaning. $3.30/hour and up, plus travel HOME CARE SERVICES 846-1905 112tfn Now Taking Applications For Cashiers and Hostesses APPLY IN PERSON ONLY At Ken Martin’s 1803 S. Texas next to Sears SERVICES Unexpected Pregnancy? Services thru the 20th week Awake or Asleep Women’s Health Services Dallas, Texas (214) 349-9533 Call Collect TYPING. Prompt, professional. 823-5726. 113118 LOST Typing!! Reports, Dissertations, etc. ON THE DOUBLE. 331 University. 846-3755. HOtfn ■ ^erv!ceTo7%l Chrysler Corp. Cars Body Work — Painting HALSELL MOTOR COMPANY INC. ■ Dodge Sales and Service Since 1922*1 ^141^Texas Ave. 823-8111 | REWARD Lost blonde male Cocker Spaniel puppy. Last seen in vicinity of College Main and Nagle. Has congenital birth defect. NEEDS MEDICATION! Please contact 846-5896 or 693- 7306. 11015 WE’RE LO< POWER F MONTH FC HAVE DEC YOU CAN WRITE: r’THlWsWmiflikr*** is looking for prospective team members for X- CITY LEAGUE SOFTBALL. * ^ If you have played Industrial League, City League, Collegiate, or Semi-pro •^baseball and would like to play with a first-rate organization give us a call.^ ^Either come by 4201 College Main and talk to Julian McMurrey or Michael ^ Holt between 1:00 and 3:00 pm., Monday through Friday, or contact MichaelH Afnolt at 779-9537, after 5:00 pm. JT Only serious, experienced ^ individuals need apply. ^ (uniforms supplied) ******* WWW+W+W* <fSr r ’ ■ r ( lw 5 LOST J Gold, pear shaped necklace, £ S with saphires around diamond. « * LARGE REWARD!! J ■X’ Very sentimental. 'J * Please call 845-8273. mts * return, prompting government tax agents to look at all returns handle by the preparer. Clients began call ing the preparer, worried about his work. Such enforcement action by the Internal Revenue Service to weed out filing errors alarms some tax re turn preparers. They claim they are being forced into doing audits for the IRS, into substituting as tax collec tors and that this pushes up fees for anyone hiring help for their returns. “It’s almost an atmosphere of fear,” said William Wasserman, a New York certified public accoun tant, of the IRS penalties being assessed more frequently against preparers. About four in 10 individual tax payers paid for tax return assistance last year and virtually all businesses have help so what affects preparers has a far broader impact, particularly FOR RENT Large quiet room. No bills. Graduate student preferred. $150.00. 696-1296. lilts TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT RESIDENT ADVISOR POSITIONS AVAILABLE QUALIFICATIONS: Resident advisor candidates must be senior or graduate student classification with overall 2.25 GPA and some residence hall experience preferred but not necessary. DUTIES: Live with the student athletes in Cain Hall, serve as coun selor to the athletes, and act as liason between Resident Manager and Athletic Department administrators. STIPEND: Room and Board In-state tuition waiver APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE: Cain Hall (campus) or Leroy Sutherland 845- 4692 mRHn NEW EFFICIENCIES $159 month. One bedroom from $180 month. All bills paid except electricity. No pets. Villa West Apartments, south of Villa Maria. Lorraine Peterson, manager. 822- 7772. I77tfn PRE-LEASING MHSPACES FOR STUDENTS -Over 400 spaces (many shaded) -Swimming pool -Club House -Laundry -Security Patrol Can accommodate 12 ft. to 14 ft. homes. $75/month; $50 Deposit Call or come by WESTERN VILLAGE MOBILE HOME PARK 2001 Beck St. Bryan 822-6912 113 now as a new tax-filing season is under way. The preparer always has been sup posed to question glaring discrepan cies and advise the client that back up documents are needed for some types of deductions. By and large though, he could rely on the taypayer’s word without delving into financial records. But Wasserman said the IRS now seems to be pushing preparers into conducting an audit — inspecting all AUTO INSURANCE FOR AGGIES: Call: George Webb Farmers Insurance Group 3400 S. College 823-8051| ALLEN Oldsmobile Cadillac Honda SALES - SERVICE “Where satisfaction is standard equipment’ 2401 Texas Ave. 779-3516 Eddie Dominguez 66 Joe Arciniega '74 till If you want the real thing, not frozen or canned ... We call It "Mexican Food Supreme.” Dallas location; 3071 Northwest Hwy 352-8570 receipts, cancelled checks and the like — before filing a client’s return. “If we have to follow this procedure, the cost (of preparing a return) could easily double,” he said, with the in creases greatest for those with com plicated returns. Not all tax preparers share Was- serman’s alarm and the IRS, though admitting some confusion over its rules, denies it expects audits by pre parers. H&R Block, the nationwide tax firm that works on about 10 percent of all individual tax returns, keeps close tabs on IRS penalty policies but doesn’t have problems yet and doesn’t expect any that would affect its rates. Other tax specialists, while seeing a definite IRS clampdown on prepar ers, aren’t worried since they say it seems directed at fly-by-night oper ators. Despite the disagreement about threats to their business, there’s no question preparers have come under closer scrutiny as the IRS enforces parts of the 1976 tax reform act ap plying to those who charge a fee to figure tax returns. While the taxpayer is responsible for any unpaid tax plus interest — the interest charge just doubled to 12 percent this year — the 1976 act for the first time imposed several types of penalties on preparers: — $25 for omitting their signa ture, address or identification num ber on the taxpayer’s return or failing to keep records; — $100 for a return error blamed on the preparer’s negligence; and a maximum $500 in each case where the preparer “wilfully” tries to understate the client’s tax bill. Most penalties levied have been in the $25 category for errors caught during routine processing of returns. More are found through audits. But the latest figures show that since the start of the penalties, the IRS also has asserted some 5,700 $100 penalties and 650 in the $500 category, which borders on a criminal offense. “They’re hitting preparers for penalties they never would hit the taxpayer for,” claims Wasserman, who also is an attorney. “If that is the policy they are promoting, we re going to go to court and litigate it.” The tax law provisions, approved by Congress late in 1976 to go into effect for that year’s returns, caused immediate headaches: preparers were unsure what was required and the IRS was not ready to put the rules into effect The tax agency fo cused first on the easiest of the new rules — checking identifications. Preparers were slapped with thousands of $25 penalty notices for using a signature stamp (actual hand signing is required) and other infrac tions. The IRS backed down on many fines, however, agreeing that the new rules came out too late. Statistics are sketchy but the IRS figures 85 percent of the 1976 re turns done with preparer help met the identification requirements. As preparers grew used to the rules, more than 95 percent of the 1977 and 1978 returns checked in processing included proper preparer identifica tion. While identification cases are fair ly clear-cut, negligence and willful tax understatement penalties are judgment calls made after an IRS agent audits a return. If an audit de termines additional tax is owed, agents must decide if a preparer con tributed to the tax underpayment. In the case of the extra $250 in vestment tax credit mistakenly taken on the return of the Connecticut company, Arthur Young & Co., the preparer fought tooth and nail to have the $100 negligence finding re versed. “Even though it is only $100 and we spend much more than that fight ing it, we won’t admit we’ve been negligent as a matter of principle,” said Robert Hanson, national direc tor of tax practice for Arthur Y oung. Hanson says firms such as his tri ple check their work and an error slipping through — particularly a tri vial one — shouldn’t be considered negligence. He says Arthur Young has been hit with six penalties notices, fought them all and so far has won its appeals, including a lifting of the Connecticut fine. More ominous to Hanson than cases of error is whether the IRS will penalize preparers for reading the many gray areas in the tax code diffe rently than the agency. "There are just a lot of doubtfid items the preparer has to deal with,” Hanson said. “He has a responsiblity to his client to minimize tax liability but the danger is that he will resolve all doubts in favor of the govern ment.” A.J. Cheifetz, a Chicago CPA with the firm of Lester Witte & Co., agrees. “If you carry it to the ex treme, it’s pretty clear that they can interpret any difference of opinion their way,” he said of the IRS penalty policy. IKS said its regulations require preparers only to be careful, espe cially with such items as travel and entertainment expenses. “While the preparer need not make himself an auditor or J inspect the evidence suppoiy deduction, ” according to IES missioner Jerome Kurtz, It have an obligation to satisfy that the evidence as pren would satisfy the requiremey; Wasserman said there m, gap between Washington pels; practice in the field. Hestm force the IRS to reveal, foret : if it’s standard procedure is toiji all returns handled by a when errors are caught in three. The American Institute of fled Public Accountants alsois ducting a survey to see ho* spread preparers feel their Iffi; lems are. Members ofthe pect more complaints willcome the Northeast, wheretheysay have taken the hardest lineom ties. “I suppose they are tryingtt the overnight preparershuti broad a net they’ve gone for Arthur Young’s Hanson. “Hie you know, the more likely yot he penalized. “SW AGF S “IK t: I GRI 7 ECC HOI “TH n AG Magic good advertising AM NE NE tc WA Cultur cultur be liv< last wi Ses drone group: fupfnamba ********************** * MANOR EAST 3 [ MANOR EAST MALL « 823-8300 1 PLITT Southern T^rarirj \ UNIVfftSlTY SQUAftf SHOPPING CINTfR CINEMA I STEVE MARTIN. ThejERK Saturn t Mflf DOLBY STEREO f [RUo. Nothing can stop this wedding...except love. nF United Press Inlemtionil MINNEAPOLIS-At2!, cian Dan Witkowski is doini well creating illusions for tie ness world. Witkowski’s company, Hj Com, rarely makes out of a hat. But it onceenlivn benefit show at the Minneapdj stitue of Arts by making anSij Rolls Royce appear out of a smoke. Witkowski says his firm,; quartered in Minneapolis, % izes in “effective command through the medium of magi Recently, he used a flyings and an 18-inch Martian tok plain a very complex policy to; national Telephone and Tek soften Life Insurance agents. The . grain , appeared above the heads L e g agents and landed on stag: they v came the Martian, askingqn prices about the policy. Hewaseqe;!' 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