Actually, the standard rebate is up to $60, depending on your filing status. For 'single' it's only $30.

Alternatively, you can fill out form 8913 to specify the actual amount you paid in phone taxes, which could be more than the standard amount.

Oops. Correction—the amount is based on how many exemptions you claimed. It goes as follows:

0 - $0
1 - $30
2 - $40
3 - $50
4 or more - $60

Yep, $30 for singles.

I actually *do* have four years' worth of phone bills lying around, but just try figuring out which of those little extra charges is the Federal Excise Tax. I hope they didn't make some money off me, but who knows.

Yes, Chad. That jibes with what my tax guy told us last week. My wife and I claim 2, so we get $40.

Apparently, there is a method for calculating the actual amount you're owed back, but it's based on your last 41 months of phone bills. My guy said he's had to do it for two customers so far this tax season. It's not pleasant, and it's not guaranteed to generate a more significant refund.

Forgive the silly question, but does this include cell phones? That's the only kind of phone that I've had for 3 years :)

joyflop - from the article, "The refund applies to land-line and cellphone itemized long-distance charges and to bundled phone service plans that include local and long-distance calls, as well as to long-distance phone cards."

Hmm.. I wonder if I can claim it for VoIP... have 4 VoIP trunks coming into my home.

there was also an article about this in the LA Times today (Business section), talking about people screwing up the credit:

"Only a few weeks into the tax-filing season, the Internal Revenue Service says consumer returns are already riddled with errors as the result of a new and tricky telephone-tax refund...

But about a third of those eligible aren't seeking a refund, the agency said. Other taxpayers are claiming it twice, some are claiming outrageous amounts, and still more fail to fill in the proper blanks.

The IRS says it is investigating abuses, such as individuals claiming phone-tax refunds that exceed their annual income (??!!).

But even simple errors can delay refunds and win the taxpayer the joy of an IRS audit...

individuals who had large long-distance bills over this time frame might want to go the tougher but potentially more lucrative route. That requires taxpayers to collect 41 months of phone bills and add up the total amount of federal excise tax paid. Both land lines and cellphone bills qualify during the period from Feb. 28, 2003, to August 2006...

For those with significant bills, gathering the phone bills and filing out the form can be well worth the trouble. Consider, for example, a single filer who spends $100 a month on cell and long-distance services. He could take the $30 safe harbor credit or calculate the real cost, which is likely to be $123 - a $93 difference."

Hmmmm...how do I go about getting my old cell phone bills from Nextel?? I have almost a year and a half of recent bills, but when I moved I tossed my old Nextel bills.

I looked at some example amounts from last year, and it was about $2.30/month, which is approx $95, much better than the $30 they want to give me...

If you're on AT&T, you can login to your account online and they have a handy little link to archived images of the appropriate 41 months worth of bills.