Phone Tax Refund

Posted by Mike Smith :: October 22, 2007 @ 6:26 am

It’s not too often that the IRS gives a refund to the majority of taxpayers. Even rarer is taxpayers not taking advantage of such a refund. Are you one of the ones who missed out on the phone tax refund?

According to a recent article, only about half of the money allocated by the IRS for the phone tax refund has actually been paid out. To be eligible for the refund, you must have had long distance telephone service between March 2003 and July 2006. Service during that period included a federal tax of 3% that should not have been collected.

In order to get your money back, you needed to provide proof of payment of the tax during the collection period. While you would be due the actual amount that you spent, the IRS understands that many people don’t save telephone records for such a long period of time. As a result, the IRS also allowed a standard refund, which varied between $30 and $60, without the need to provide receipts.

Consumers lacking knowledge of the phone tax refund is cited as one of the main reasons why payments are lower than expected. The fact that only 71% of returns claimed the refund, even though a much larger percentage was likely eligible, indicates a lack of awareness.

In the ongoing quest for consumer education here on the Lending Club blog, we hope that you take advantage of this refund if you are entitled to it. If you did not collect the phone tax refund as part of your income taxes return last year, you should contact the IRS to see how to get your money. Then take your savings and invest in some P2P loans on Lending Club.