Topic 613 - Telephone Excise Tax Refund (TETR) - Businesses

This information is for businesses such as corporations, partnerships, trusts and tax-exempt organizations who want to know if they are eligible for a telephone excise tax refund and, if so, how to request the refund.

More information can also be found on the IRS Web site at Businesses and Tax-Exempts Can Use Formula for Telephone Tax Refund , which is available 7 days a week.

The telephone excise tax refund is a one-time credit that eligible taxpayers can request on their 2006 federal income tax returns. The refund is a credit that gives back long-distance federal excise taxes paid in previous years.

Specifically, if you paid taxes on long distance charges for a land line, cell phone, Voice over Internet Protocol service, or bundled service, for which you received a bill at any time between March 1, 2003 and July 31, 2006, you are eligible to request a telephone excise tax refund.

To request your refund, you must complete Form 8913,Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid , and attach it to your income tax return. Tax-Exempt organizations must file a Form 990-T, with Form 8913 attached. If you are a flow through entity, you must request the refund on the Form 1065 or Form 1120-S business income tax return.

If you are a calendar year filer, you can request the credit on your income tax return for the period ending December 31, 2006. If you are a fiscal year filer, you can request the refund on your income tax return for your fiscal year ending in 2007.

There are two options available to figure how much refund to request.

The first option is to request the actual amount of refundable telephone excise tax you paid. You will need the amount of federal telephone excise tax you paid from each of your telephone bills for the 41 months from March 2003 through July 2006. You will then need to determine what portion of the tax you paid is on long distance or bundled service. If, after reviewing the instructions for Form 8913 and looking at your telephone bills, you still have questions about how to identify the federal excise tax paid on long distance or bundled service, you will have to contact your telephone service provider for assistance.

You can use the second option, an IRS-approved estimation formula, if you don't have all of your telephone bills, but know the amount you paid for telephone service. To use this option, you will need copies of your April 2006 and September 2006 telephone bills, the amount paid for telephone service from March 1, 2003 through July 31, 2006, and the number of employees you had as of the second quarter of 2006.

The instructions for Form 8913 contain detailed information on how to figure the refund, and applicable interest, using both of these options. Do not submit your phone bills with your Form 8913. Maintain them with your records.

Copies of forms and instructions you will need may be downloaded for printing from the IRS Website or ordered by calling 1-800-829-3676.

Previous | Index | Next

SEARCH:

You can search for information in the entire Tax Prep Help section, or in the entire site. For a more focused search, put your search word(s) in quotes.

Tax Prep Help All of UncleFed's Tax*Board

Tax Topic Categories | FAQ Categories | Tax Prep Help Main | Home