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Land line - phone tax refund!!
This is a One-Time tax credit. Read below and take advantage on your 2007
Taxes.
Verified true by snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/business/taxes/excise.asp
SPECIAL ONE TIME TAX CREDIT ON YOUR 2006 TAX RETURN
When it comes time to prepare and file your 2006 tax return, make sure you don't
overlook the "federal excise tax refund credit." You claim the credit on line 71 of
your form 1040. A similar line will be available if you file the short form 1040A. If
you have family or friends who no longer file a tax return AND they have their own land
phone in their home and have been paying a phone bill for years, make sure they know
about this form 1040EZ-T.
What is this all about? Well the federal excise tax has been charged to you on your
phone bill for years. It is an old tax that was assessed on your toll calls based on
how far the call was being made and how much time you talked on that call. When phone
companies began to offer flat fee phone service, challenges to the excise tax ended up
in federal courts in several districts of the country. The challenges pointed out that
flat fee/rate phone service had nothing to do with the distance and the length of the
phone call. Therefore, the excise tax should/could not be assessed.
The IRS has now conceded this argument. Phone companies have been given notice to stop
assessing the federal excise tax as of Aug 30, 2006. You will most likely see the tax
on your September cutoff statement, but it should NOT be on your October bill.
But the challengers of the old law also demanded restitution. So the IRS has announced
that a one time credit will be available when you and I file our 2006 tax return as I
explained above. However, the IRS also established limits on how BIG a credit you can
get. Here 's how it works.
If you file your return as a single person with just you as a dependent, you get to
claim a $30 credit on line 71 of your 1040.
If you file with a child or a parent as your dependent, you claim $40.
If you file your return as a married couple with no children, you claim $40.
If you file as married with children, you claim $50 if one child, $60 if two children.
In all cases, the most you get to claim is $60 - UNLESS you have all your phone bills
starting AFTER Feb 28, 2003 through July 31, 2006 (do not use any bills starting Aug 1,
2006.), then you can add up the ACTUAL TAX AS IT APPEARS ON YOUR BILLS AND CLAIM THAT
FOR A CREDIT.
Now if you have your actual phone bills and come up with an ACTUAL TAX AMOUNT, you
cannot use line 71 on your tax return. You have to complete a special form number 8913
and attach it to your tax return.
Individuals using the special from 1040EZ-T will have to attach this form 8913 also.
One final point - this credit is a refundable credit. That means you get this money, no
matter how your tax return works out. If you would end up owing the IRS a balance, the
refund will reduce that balance you owe. If you end up getting a refund, the credit
will be added and you get a bigger refund by that $30 to $60, depending on how many
dependents are on your return.
Feel free to pass this on or make copies for family and friends who don't have
computers.
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