TAXES: Accounts Deceivable

A much-kneaded ball of dough on the U.S. breadboard is the expense account. Suspicious that thousands of people collect more than a few crumbs with every outlay for business expenses, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service decided to try to police a longstanding rule that taxpayers report the excess of reimbursements over expenses. Last year IRS put a line on the 1957 tax form for reporting reimbursed expenses, hastily gave taxpayers a year's moratorium after a howl rocked the very foundation of expense-accountland, sent martini glasses aquivering from Manhattan's gay "21" restaurant to Los Angeles' sporty Romanoff's.

Last week IRS quieted things...