Business Notes TAXES

Add to death and taxes one more of life's certainties: the Internal Revenue Service will always find fresh ways to make the former seem almost preferable to calculating the latter. Last week the IRS unveiled new filing forms made necessary by last year's tax-reform law. The estimated 13 million people who have a second mortgage, a home-equity loan or a refinanced mortgage during 1987 will need to fill out a two-page Form 8598, which comes with instructions that are twice as long as the form (estimated fill-out time, according to the IRS: 84 minutes). Some 15 million taxpayers must file Form 8582, detailing tax-shelter losses (72 minutes of work, says the IRS). Finally, for 5 million Americans still eligible for Individual Retirement Account deductions, Form 8606 will show how much of this year's contributions are deductible (20 minutes).