IRS $30 - $60 Telephone Tax Refund Coming

September 1, 2006

phone tax refund If you paid long distance telephone tax (after Feb. 28, 2003 and before Aug. 1, 2006), you will qualify for a $30 to $60 tax refund on your 2006 tax return. The IRS has announced standard amounts for the refund meaning that people won’t have to sort through their old telephone bills to figure out the refund they are entitled to. This refund is due to a 3% tax added to long distance telephone service charges that began in 1898 and the courts recently ruled must end (with refunds given). The standard refund amounts are being based on the total number of exemptions a person claims on their 2006 Federal income tax return. The standard refund amounts are as follows:

$30 for a person filing a return with one exemption

$40 for someone filing with two exemptions

$50 for someone filing with three exemptions

$60 for someone filing with four or more exemptions

The standard refund will be the easiest way to get the refund for the vast majority of people and only one additional line on their regular 2006 return needs to be filled out. If, however, you know that you used long distance at a much greater rate than the average person during the 41 month period, you can opt to to figure your refund by looking at the actual amount of tax you paid.

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Information: September 1st, 2006; 2 Responses

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Categories: Phones; Saving Money; Taxes

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Reader Comments

Comment Number:: 1
Written by:: John
Posted on:: April 4, 2007 at 2:02 pm

what do you do if your have more than one phone, can you only take the standard for both, or can you take the standard for one, and calculate the other? I have not seen anything about this

Thank you for your time

Comment Number:: 2
Written by:: david r
Posted on:: April 4, 2007 at 6:35 pm

This is an interesting question. Since you were paying the tax on two phones, I assume that you could take the deduction 2 times, but the best thing to do is call the IRS directly and get their answer (since common sense doesn’t always prevail with them).

If you do take 2 deductions, be sure to add a note saying you had 2 telephone lines, otherwise they may wonder and flag your return.