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.

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.

Choosing the standard refund amount? You’ll find an extra line on your tax returns for the refund.
Find those old phone bills? You can figure the refund using the actual amount of tax paid. Fill out Form 8913, Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid, and attach it to your return.
Don't need to file a return? You can still request the refund. Use the new Form 1040EZ-T, Request for Refund of Federal Telephone Excise Tax, to choose the standard amount. Attach Form 8913 to Form 1040EZ-T if you use the actual amount. Also, some companies offer free e-filing of Form 1040EZ-T.
Filing Schedule C, E or F? You may be eligible to use the special formula for businesses if you have more than $25,000 in gross receipts.

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.

Businesses must fill out Form 8913, Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid, and attach it to the income tax return they normally file: Form 1120, Form 1120S, Form 1065 or Form 1041.
Likewise, tax-exempts, including churches and charities, must fill out Form 8913 and attach it to Form 990-T.

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