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The Telephone Excise Tax Refund
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 The
Telephone Excise Tax Refund is a one-time refund for the taxes paid
on long distance calls between February 28, 2003 and August 1, 2006.
You may be eligible for this refund if:
- You are filing as an individual,
business or non-profit organization. Those individuals not
filing a 2006 return may also be eligible.
- You paid for a long distance service
(landline, wireless, VOiP) during the dates above or a bundled
service that did not differentiate the taxes between local calls
and long distance calls.
Why?
All phone service providers were
required to charge customers this tax based on how long and how
far the call was made. Now that flat fees are being offered, the
federal courts decided that this tax no longer applies to long
distance services and should be refunded to those who paid. This
credit applies to long distance taxes only.
How?
Individuals have two options:
- Find all of your old telephone bills
between February 28, 2003 and August 1, 2006 (41 months) and add
up the tax you paid for your long distance calls. Fill out Form
8913 and attach it to your return.
- Use the standard amounts provided by
the IRS. If you claim:
• One exemption, your credit will be $30
• Two exemptions, your credit will be $40
• Three exemptions, your credit will be $50
• Four exemptions or more, your credit will be $60
Choose whatever option will give you a
greater refund. Add this total to Form 1040 (line 71), 1040A
(line 42), 1040NR (line 69), 1040EZ (line 9). Those individuals
who will not file a return can fill in form 1040EZ-T to receive
their credit. Be sure to check with your phone service provider
to see if past bills are available so that both options are
available to you. For our clients filing individual returns, we
will take the appropriate standard deduction unless you provide
us the actual total amount as taken from your telephone bills.
The standard amount refund is not
available to business and nonprofits. Form 8913 must be
completed with the actual amount of excise tax included. This
form will need to be added to the regular tax return.
Finally,
this is a refundable credit. If you owe the IRS money, this credit
will be deducted from what you owe. Conversely, this credit will be
added to your refund if the IRS owes you money.
The government estimates the federal refund of the excise tax near
$10 billion so take advantage of this one time credit!
For more information
and instructions on requesting the refund, visit
www.irs.gov.
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