Tax Preparation Help  
IRS Media Release January 2007

Telephone Excise Tax Refund

The Telephone Excise Tax Refund (TETR) is a one-time payment available on your 2006 federal income tax return. It is designed to refund previously collected long distance telephone taxes. Individuals, businesses and tax-exempt organizations are eligible to request it.

Questions? We've got answers.

This refund will be the most wide-reaching in IRS history - more than 160 million filers may request it. That's a lot of questions.

If you don't find your answer, follow the instructions at the bottom of the Qs and As for contacting the IRS for assistance.

Take Note

Check here for the latest updates on refund requests.

  • Corporations with a March 15, 2007 tax-filing deadline, here are the interest factors to use for figuring your telephone tax refund.
  • Early tax returns, including those filed by tax professionals for their clients, show that about 30 percent of taxpayers are not requesting the telephone excise tax refund for which they may qualify. See news release IR-2007-40.
  • The IRS is taking additional steps to prevent abuse by tax preparers and help taxpayers make accurate requests for the one-time telephone excise tax refund. See news releases IR-2007-36 and IR-2007-27 and fact sheet FS-2007-12.
  • The IRS has started processing tax returns that claim key tax provisions renewed by legislation enacted in December and urges taxpayers not to overlook the one-time telephone tax refund. See news release IR-2007-26.
  • Early tax returns show some people are making basic mistakes when requesting the refunds, others are requesting excessive amounts and many are missing out altogether. Get tips for requesting the telephone excise tax refund. See news release IR-2007-21..

Individuals

Taxpayers have a choice: a standard refund amount between $30 and $60, based on the total number of exemptions claimed on their 2006 tax return, to eliminate the need to locate old phone bills; or they can locate those bills and use the actual amount.

Businesses and Tax-Exempt Organizations

Businesses and tax-exempts can dig through their old phone bills for the past 41 months to base their telephone tax refund on the actual amount of tax paid. Or they can review their bills for 2 months and use a special formula to figure the refund.

Media and Partners

We have information and tools you can use to tell millions of people about how to request the Telephone Excise Tax Refund.

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