You may have it coming to you
If you're messing with your taxes, don't forget that you may be entitled to a refund on your 2006 federal income tax return of telephone excise taxes that you paid on long distance bills between March 2003 and July 2006. The taxes were discovered to be illegal a while ago, and the IRS is paying money back to those of us who were dinged for them. Even if you don't have all the old phone bills handy, there's a standardized amount that you're entitled to if you paid these taxes. For a family of four or more, it's 60 bucks -- that ain't hay.
The government reports that they're seeing a lot of tax returns coming in without this credit being claimed. Don't leave money on the table for Uncle Sam! For individuals (as opposed to be businesses), more information on the whole thing is here.
| Posted at 6:48 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (6)
if I recall correctly, TurboTax flagged that one for me automatically as I went through the filing process.
Posted by Jud | March 3, 2007 8:31 AM
It did not do so for me. If you're one of those folks who (like me) bags the robot interview and goes straight for the forms, you could miss it.
Posted by Jack Bog | March 3, 2007 9:21 AM
I was looking at the taxes on my phone bill - and it seemed like about 24 cents a month. What did I miss?
Posted by Kari Chisholm | March 3, 2007 12:02 PM
Great. Now how are we gonna fund President McKinley's troop surge in the War against Spanish Terror? Why do you hate the Rough Riders?
Posted by mark | March 3, 2007 12:05 PM
Damn, I missed that. I wonder if they'll add it for me? Last year I made an error that resulted in an overpayment, and they fixed it and sent me the money back. So maybe!
Otherwise, I had to decide if it's worth filing an amended return for $30. Hm.
Thanks for the tip.
Posted by no one in particular | March 3, 2007 2:14 PM
I guess the best thing is to wait and see whether they do it, but I doubt that they'll fix that one for you. They have no way of knowing whether you paid the tax. I suspect that an amended return will be necessary (see line 15 of this form).
Posted by Jack Bog | March 3, 2007 3:03 PM