How To Get A Phone Tax Refund
It seems that the IRS has come out with a one-time-only form for individuals to claim the federal excise tax refunds on long-distance services if they otherwise do not need to file a tax return. Use Form 1040-EZ-T to claim either the standard refund based on number of exemptions that she would be entitled to claim if required to file or to claim the actual taxes paid by attaching Form 8913.
If you or someone else will claim your mother as an exemption, she will not be entitled to the automatic refund. If she can claim herself as an exemption, she will be entitled to the standard $30 refund for one exemption. If she cannot claim herself as an exemption, then she will have to complete form 8913 in order to get a refund.
Form 8913 requires that you go through your mother’s actual bills for the 41-month period from March 2003 through July 2006 to figure the actual 3 percent excise tax paid on long-distance and bundled services. Bundled services are phone services that are for local and long-distance services without variation on cost such as a nationwide cell phone plan.