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Refund of Long-Distance Telephone Taxes

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the something-new-to-go-with-my-1040-oh-joy dept.

pertelote writes "Over 108 years after financing the Spanish American War, the tax on long-distance phone calls is finally being repealed. The IRS is supposed to refund our last three years worth of taxes for both landlines and cell phones on our returns next year. The phone companies sued because they did not want the hassle of collecting the tax. The tax is no longer in effect on 31 July, 2006." Don't get too excited about a big windfall. From the article: "Consumers, who pay about 40 percent of the taxes collected, typically pay about $18 a year in excise taxes if they have a long-distance service and a cellphone. They will be able to file for a refund on their 2006 federal income tax returns."

2 of 303 comments (clear)

  1. If you have VoIP, double check your bill. by XorNand · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Federal Excise Tax is typically the only tax that US-based VoIP carriers charge their subscribers (if they charge any). Having help start a VoIP company myself, I never understood why other providers charged this tax. We were advised by council that VoIP is not classfied as a "telecommunications service" but rather an "information service" by the FCC, hence was not subject to the tax. Therefore we've never collected a dime in taxes (other than sales tax on equipment sales, of course). I wouldn't expect Vonage to be pocketing that extra 3%, but I wouldn't put it past some of the other companies out there.

    FYI: The "Regulatory Recovery Fee" isn't a tax, it's a surcharge that carriers levy to offset the cost of having to comply with federal regulations. However, IMHO, it's a bit disingenuous for VoIP companies to charge this fee since they aren't actually regulated.

    --
    Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
  2. Maybe they could tackle this tax next.... by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 4, Informative

    The myriad of taxes on airline tickets. Ever since 1980 the feds have put a 10% tax on all airline tickets and the fund is doing nothing except offsetting the deficit. If you think about it, that's a ton of money. Airports got fed up and start charging PFC (passenger facility charges) which you see on yout ticket ranging from 3.00 - 6.00.

    Ever pay attention to the taxes on your tickets after you buy them? In some low cost fare markets it increases the cost by almost 100%.

    Then there's the "fuel surcharges" that airlines charge that never get refunded or repealed.

    At least regarding long distance I have a choice NOT to use a meatspace carrier like Verizon. Give me help with air travel! Yikes!