the goverment owes you $60
April 8, 2007 12:57 PM Subscribe
Telephone excise tax refund
Get your $60 + bucks back from the government... and do something good with it (beware talking website). Via the always excellent Ian Masters today.
Get your $60 + bucks back from the government... and do something good with it (beware talking website). Via the always excellent Ian Masters today.
Crap, I haven't filed yet.
posted by IronLizard at 1:19 PM on April 8, 2007
posted by IronLizard at 1:19 PM on April 8, 2007
Larry Hagman is still alive?
posted by birdherder at 1:27 PM on April 8, 2007
posted by birdherder at 1:27 PM on April 8, 2007
Ironlizard... luck you - i just emailed my accountant. :)
fish tick - USA.
posted by specialk420 at 1:36 PM on April 8, 2007
fish tick - USA.
posted by specialk420 at 1:36 PM on April 8, 2007
Anyone know if this year's Turbotax picks this up?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:39 PM on April 8, 2007
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:39 PM on April 8, 2007
This handy little line is what allowed my boyfriend to get a whopping $9 refund.
posted by rhapsodie at 2:07 PM on April 8, 2007
posted by rhapsodie at 2:07 PM on April 8, 2007
Have we finished paying for that Spanish American war already?
posted by horsemuth at 2:08 PM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by horsemuth at 2:08 PM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]
April 8th? I think it will be a little late for most people.
I did my taxes in January, and this option came up when I was doing taxes with turbo tax. I got $30. Woohoo I guess.
This handy little line is what allowed my boyfriend to get a whopping $9 refund.
Just $9? IIRC the government let everyone take $30 rather then totaling up all their phone bills for the past 10 years or whatever.
posted by delmoi at 2:26 PM on April 8, 2007
I did my taxes in January, and this option came up when I was doing taxes with turbo tax. I got $30. Woohoo I guess.
This handy little line is what allowed my boyfriend to get a whopping $9 refund.
Just $9? IIRC the government let everyone take $30 rather then totaling up all their phone bills for the past 10 years or whatever.
posted by delmoi at 2:26 PM on April 8, 2007
Ironlizard... luck you - i just emailed my accountant. :)
Oh I knew about the phone tax thing months ago. I didn't have a regular phone in my name, however. This did remind me that the deadline is almost here, however. Thanks for that, anyway, specialk.
posted by IronLizard at 2:28 PM on April 8, 2007
Oh I knew about the phone tax thing months ago. I didn't have a regular phone in my name, however. This did remind me that the deadline is almost here, however. Thanks for that, anyway, specialk.
posted by IronLizard at 2:28 PM on April 8, 2007
Just $9? IIRC the government let everyone take $30 rather then totaling up all their phone bills for the past 10 years or whatever.
I meant adding this $30 to his return gave him a grand total of a $9 refund. That will surely get garnished anyway.
posted by rhapsodie at 2:35 PM on April 8, 2007
I meant adding this $30 to his return gave him a grand total of a $9 refund. That will surely get garnished anyway.
posted by rhapsodie at 2:35 PM on April 8, 2007
Do you need a regular land line to qualify? I was under the impression any long distance service was good for the refund, like mobile service. ?
posted by Boydrop at 2:44 PM on April 8, 2007
posted by Boydrop at 2:44 PM on April 8, 2007
If you have already filed, can you do it next year?
Boydrop: "... available to anyone who paid such taxes on landline, wireless, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service." [link]
posted by AwkwardPause at 2:58 PM on April 8, 2007
Boydrop: "... available to anyone who paid such taxes on landline, wireless, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service." [link]
posted by AwkwardPause at 2:58 PM on April 8, 2007
AwkwardPause--next time, please wait until I weigh in (or just pause awkwardly, as it were).
posted by Kibbutz at 3:00 PM on April 8, 2007
posted by Kibbutz at 3:00 PM on April 8, 2007
Oh, well, in THAT case :)
posted by IronLizard at 3:00 PM on April 8, 2007
posted by IronLizard at 3:00 PM on April 8, 2007
Just checked out VerizonWireless.com to see if I could get a summary of the taxes I've paid in the past year. Nope. But they do offer some generic help content telling me that I can request my past statements for $5-6 / month. Thanks (for not much) Verizon!
posted by pkingdesign at 3:28 PM on April 8, 2007
posted by pkingdesign at 3:28 PM on April 8, 2007
Anyone know if this year's Turbotax picks this up?
YES, it does, no worries. The tax nerds in my family engaged in a lot of arm-waving earlier this year alerting me (and anyone who would listen, and a few who didn't care to) as to this new thingus. So far, every major tax prep software I've heard of has incorporated it into their presentation. Just pay attention when answering the questions. :)
(filed Jan 10 neener)
posted by sidereal at 3:54 PM on April 8, 2007
YES, it does, no worries. The tax nerds in my family engaged in a lot of arm-waving earlier this year alerting me (and anyone who would listen, and a few who didn't care to) as to this new thingus. So far, every major tax prep software I've heard of has incorporated it into their presentation. Just pay attention when answering the questions. :)
(filed Jan 10 neener)
posted by sidereal at 3:54 PM on April 8, 2007
Just in case some of you missed horsemuth's well laid snark, let us talk for a moment about the Federal Telephone Excise tax.
It was originally put in place to pay for the Spanish-American war. Yep, the one that happened way back in 1898. Since then, it has be repealed and reinstated numerous times, (in all most every case, in a time of war), but the fact remains that essentially, Americans are still paying a tax that was designed to help pay for a war that ended over a century ago. And since most people don't really look at their phone bill, they have no idea.
Things like this make me really hate The System.
/Works for a Telco-provider and has to explain this nonsense tax on occasion.
/grumbles...
posted by quin at 10:10 PM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]
It was originally put in place to pay for the Spanish-American war. Yep, the one that happened way back in 1898. Since then, it has be repealed and reinstated numerous times, (in all most every case, in a time of war), but the fact remains that essentially, Americans are still paying a tax that was designed to help pay for a war that ended over a century ago. And since most people don't really look at their phone bill, they have no idea.
Things like this make me really hate The System.
/Works for a Telco-provider and has to explain this nonsense tax on occasion.
/grumbles...
posted by quin at 10:10 PM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]
Filling out last-minute tax forms today and suddenly remembered this post. Thanks a million... I mean $50, specialk420. How great that all of my hanging out in the blue is now making me money.
(Let's see, time spent reading MeFi, 500 hours/year; amount earned, $50 — that's a cool $.10/hour.)
posted by LeLiLo at 9:46 AM on April 16, 2007
(Let's see, time spent reading MeFi, 500 hours/year; amount earned, $50 — that's a cool $.10/hour.)
posted by LeLiLo at 9:46 AM on April 16, 2007
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posted by stenseng at 1:05 PM on April 8, 2007