"Harlan Lunsford" <hnslunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:

- quote -

Actually, that is federal excise tax on long distance or
federal excise tax on bundled services, such as a cell phone
plan which does not separate local and long-distance calls.
Plus you get interest for the back taxes. I did the
calculations for my phone usage -- land line with separate
long distance back in the early months, then two cell phones
for the second half of the credit period. My refund came
out to $80 and the standard amount would only be $50.

If you have a client with multiple cell phones, you could
easily have a significant refund due.

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Stuart A. Bronstein wrote:
- quote -

That's intresting. I went through my bills for the whole
time period. Even during tax season three years ago when I
was calling Memphis every day to efile returns, the total
tax on long distance one of those months never was more than
80cents, and of course besides those "heavy" months of Feb
and March, rest of year might have averaged 12 cents per
month. And many of those calls were on state society
business for which I got reimbursed. Even for local clients
who almost never make long distance calls, I'm not even
going to suggest they go back and do the figures.

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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Harlan Lunsford <hnslunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:

- quote -

One of my clients audits phone bills for overcharges. She
just got a federal excise tax refund for a national company
that you've heard of, of just under $175,000.

Stu

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- quote -

And before you get too excited about that, remember that
we're talking ONLY about federal excise tax on long distance
service. This does not pertain to federal excise tax on
local service.

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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larry_mc[at]ix.netcom.com wrote:
- quote -

FWIW, I just looked through a few month's worth of (old)
bills -- it comes out to around $2/month for me (Verizon
flat rate plan along with two cell phones).

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- quote -

Take a look at the form 8913 before you get too excited. I
doubt the time to complete the form is worth the small, if
any, extra refund above the "standard amount". And if you
use the 8913 for any phone you must use it for every phone -
separate forms for each phone. The "standard amount" covers
all phones.

Larry McClellan

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- quote -

The federal excise tax is what is being refunded.

The universal service fee is not a tax. It is a fee that the
phone company has to pay. They are allowed to pass it on to
the customer, but are not required to do so. Verizon (and
probably every other carrier) chooses to bill you for it.
They try to make it look like a tax so that you won't
complain.

Bob Sandler

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stanmancini[at]yahoo.com wrote:

- quote -

The 3% federal excise tax on long distance charges. Why not
just take the IRS safe harbor amounts of $30, $40, $50 or
$60 based on 1, 2, 3 or 4 or more people on the return?

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I have all my old bills for all my phone lines. Can anyone
tell me which of the federal taxes are to be included in the
refund? My carrier is Verizon

I have for federal taxes:
Federal subscriber line charge
Federal universal service fee
Federal universal service fee long distance
Federal excise tax

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