[NA]Telephone Excise Tax[NA]

[Let'sgoflying!]

Has anyone looked at the IRS site for this (its available from their homepage right now irs.gov).

When using the formula method to calculate your refund, they say you figure what the excise tax % was in April, and again for September. I thought the next sentence would say, "Take the average of the two" in order to figure what rate you paid, and thus what your refund is. But NO, it says, Subtract one from the other and this is the rate you use!

How does that make any sense??!
You are refunded the difference between one rate and another (x your monthly expenses). Funky government math?

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=164310,00.html
How does the formula work about 1/4 the way down

 

[SkyHog]

I guess it kind of makes sense, if September's rate was correct and Aprils was incorrect....

I dunno. Seems like one of those weird math things that I don't get.

 

[TMetzinger]

I believe that in april your federal excise tax was for a bunch of services including long distance.

In September, the excise tax should NOT have included long distance. Thus the difference in the tax rates show the tax rate for the long distance (which is what is refundable).

So, that would let you take that percentage, apply it to your phone bills, and come up with a reasonable estimate of your tax paid that is eligible for a credit.

However, be warned - so many folks have messed this up that if you take anything other than the standard credit offered it will likely delay your refund while the return is screened. So unless you're getting a lot of money back from excise tax (and some businesses may be), you need to consider whether it's worth the hassle to calculate an accurate tax paid.