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Carl Specht’s wife recently asked him what he thought about taking a summer vacation this year.

Specht, an accountant in the midst of tax season, was as polite as he could be, considering the circumstances.

"I said, ‘Don’t ask me about that ‘till after tax season — I can’t focus on that right now,’" he recalled.

It’s a good thing Specht, a partner with Costantino, Specht, Templeton & Co. in Secaucus, enjoys the nature of his work. Otherwise, getting to work at 6:30 a.m. would be a rough four months before taxes are due. Those quiet, early morning hours are when he does his volunteer work: filing returns for three dozen seniors from Kearny, where he lives.

"This was just the thing to do," he said. "I felt the CPA path and my CPA license was something I was very appreciative of, and I wanted to give something back to the profession that was providing me with my livelihood."

The early wake-up also means he can focus on his own projects, and save the rest of the day for paying clients who come in and, Specht said, "keep the practice going."

Accountants spend the long days between Jan. 1 and the tax deadline, April 17 this year, meeting with clients and plugging away at tax software on the computer. It is not uncommon for accountants to work 60-hour weeks, with the expectation employees will come in on Saturdays, said Ralph Albert Thomas, executive director of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. Specht said he tries to leave the office by 7 so he can go home to his wife and have a bite to eat, but then he retreats to his home office for a few more hours of work.

Last year, the IRS received 145.3 million tax returns, more than three-fourths of which were filed electronically nationwide. Of that number, 72.4 million returns came in from private tax preparers or companies like Parsippany-based Jackson Hewitt or H&R Block, and 39.8 million taxpayers filed their own returns, said IRS spokeswoman Dianne Besunder.

"We really go full out from January through April," Specht said. "And then you kind of hit the wall — at that point, you crash for a couple of days, and then come back to life because you have people who have gone on extensions or who have been late."

This year, accountants are rejoicing for an extra three days — it’s a Leap Year, and taxes aren’t due until April 17 because the 15th is a Sunday and the 16th is a Washington D.C. holiday. But the freedom is short-lived. People who file for an extension have until Oct. 15, giving accountants a second busy rush in the fall.

Tax season, Specht said, "seems like it starts earlier and it ends later."

To help during crunch time, accounting firms try to lighten the mood. Some companies will host an ice cream bar, with the partners serving up the treats, while others offer on-site masseuses and healthy, catered meals, Thomas said. The society itself sends out goodie bags, full of popcorn, pretzels and sweets that are devoured within minutes.

Some accounting firms actually force their employees to take time off during tax season by banning work on one Saturday a month, and fine anyone who tries to sneak in anyway. (The money is then used to throw a party, Thomas said.)

"They’re actually trying to make life a little better, and achieve a balance," Thomas said.

Tax season at the Traphagen Financial Group in Oradell means one thing — it’s time to stop shaving. The firm’s founder, Peter Traphagen, started the tradition 42 years ago as a way to save time in the morning, but it has grown into an annual event that builds cameraderie. Every year, the men in the office put down their razors around Jan. 1, and gather on the afternoon of the tax deadline to have their beards cut off.

"Some clients have suggested over the years that we send our shorn hairs to the Internal Revenue Service," said managing partner Robert Traphagen, Peter’s brother. "We have yet to pursue that."

Specht has his own routine, and for the better part of two decades he has spent each spring volunteering his time to help low-income and senior taxpayers with their returns. Most of his career was in private industry, and only recently — in 2006 — did Specht start his own public accounting firm with two close friends. But he has always found time between January and April to help those less fortunate. The additional work has never really bothered him, he said, and at age 62, he hasn’t considered retirement.

"If you didn’t love what you did, it would be a big problem," Specht said. "But those of us who have been doing this for a long time and really enjoy our work and the people we work with, you don’t even think of it as work."

Sarah Portlock: (973) 392- 5994 or sportlock@starledger.com

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Crunch time for CPAs as tax season ramps up