Ladies and Gentlemen, Dependants and Deductions, it’s officially tax season! Yay! So, what’s new?

•Telephone excise tax refund. The government stopped collecting the federal excise tax on long-distance service last August and plans to provide refunds for these taxes billed after Feb. 28, 2003 and before Aug. 1, 2006. You can dig out 41 months of phone bills, or take a standard deduction! “Under standard amounts a person filing a return with one exemption can claim $30, with the amount rising to $40 for those with two exemptions, $50 for three exemptions and $60 for four or more exemptions.” Want the actual amount you paid? No problem! Use Form 8913 (PDF)

But wait! There’s more! We’ve had tooooo much coffee!

•Split your refund! “Another change this year is that taxpayers can split refunds among up to three accounts held by U.S. financial institutions such as banks, mutual funds, brokerage firms or credit unions.”

• File for Free! “The tax agency also urged taxpayers who earn $52,000 or less to make use of Free File, a free electronic program that is a partnership between the IRS and private tax service providers.”

• Deduct Your State and Local Sales Tax! A law passed in December makes it possible for taxpayers to deduct their state and local sales tax, instead of state and local income tax. If you want to do this, you need to read about it on the internet because it was passed too late to print up the stuff to send you. Read about this deduction here!

Yay! Taxes! —MEGHANN MARCO
IRS Opens 2007 Filing Season [Chicago Tribune]

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