Warrensburg duo enjoy helping people with their taxes

Jun 18, 2008, 13:00

Jesska Daugherty

During tax season, Mary Nussbaum, left, and Molly Hout, right, are seen as superheroes to some. (Photo by Garrad Mathews)

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The office of two female superheroes looks fairly normal, situated at the end of a strip mall on Burkarth Road. Molly Hout and Mary Nussbaum don’t wear capes, but in the four months between Jan. 1 and May 1, the women "saved" more than 1,000 lives.

Hout and Nussbaum fill out the paperwork that everyone else dreads. They know the 1040 like the back of their hands. And the women’s knowledge of tax preparation keeps their clients from being "captured" by the Internal Revenue Service.

Yes, it’s almost like they’re superheroes. And as tax preparation becomes increasingly complicated, Hout and Nussbaum are rescuing more and more people.

Most of their clients live in Missouri, but Nussbaum and Hout filed claims in 2008 for clients from Virginia, Florida, Idaho, Minnesota and even Diego Garcia, an atoll in the Indian Ocean.

“I guess that makes us an international tax firm,” Nussbaum says.

Hout and Nussbaum enjoy finding deductions and credits their clients aren’t aware of and helping them understand the ins and outs of tax procedures.

This year, Hout helped one client avoid a $15,000 mistake by exchanging one rental property for another.

“Land sales have lots of rules and options. For $15,000, you can afford to figure out how to jump through the right hoops,” Hout says.

Clients are not always so lucky. Sometimes, Hout and Nussbaum have to be the bearers of bad news.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to tell [clients] how much they owe. Especially when they don’t anticipate it. It’s hard to tell someone they owe $1,500,” Nussbaum says.

“Sometimes, you feel so bad, the clients end up consoling you, saying, ‘It’s not your fault I owe money,” Hout says.

Nussbaum and Hout have to stay in tip-top shape to be able to help their clients. Their exercise routine includes reading journals, subscribing to tax newsletters, keeping investments of their own, and attending tax school.

Tax school keeps the women up-to-date on software changes, as well as changes made by the IRS and Missouri Department of Revenue. The 2007 tax year included changes in state taxes, as well as federal changes, that affected certain pensions, Social Security, and income limits.

Nussbaum and Hout take their tax education seriously, but can still find humor in tax preparation and have had funny claims, such as deductions for clients who raise exotic animals and clients who try to claim pets as dependents.

“Occasionally, someone will ask, ‘Can I claim my dog?’ and I ask, ‘Does he have a Social Security number?’” Hout says.

Nussbaum, who has been a financial planner since 1976, and Hout, a CPA since 1982, remember when forms were filled out using No. 2 pencils.

“Erasing, erasing, erasing. Each form had to be changed by hand,” Nussbaum says. “Now, it’s easier to educate people by showing them information on the computer screen.”

Electronic filing has been available since the late '90s, but was initially expensive. Electronic filing has improved the filing process in several ways, Hout says.

“It’s so easy because the return goes right to an IRS computer. There is very little room for data entry errors and people get their refunds much faster,” Hout says.

Hout and Nussbaum have advice for all taxpayers:

• Keep bank statements for at least three years
• Hang on to receipts for deductions
• Speak to tax professionals or financial advisors before making important financial decisions

“The most important thing a person can do is plan ahead. In taxes and finance, it’s hard to fix something that has already happened,” Hout says.