How can I find more info on the phone tax rebate?

Question

I hear if you owned a cell phone you could get $30 more on your taxes, and what if you have two lines in your name? And what form do you need and how do your join it with your 1040EZ?

Please help or point me in some kind of directions of help?

Answer 1

If you had a landline or a wireless phone that had long distance service, billed separately or bundled, anytime during the specified time period, you can take the flat amount of $30 for a one-person household, $40 for two, $50 for three, or $60 for four or more in the household. If you take the flat amount, you can't take twice the amount if you had two phones.

There is a line on 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ forms, down toward the end of the form in the payment section, to claim these amounts. You just write the amount for your household size on the line that says "credit for federal telephone excise tax paid".

If you prefer, you can take actual amounts paid for this excise tax from your individual phone bills, add them up, and claim the actual amount instead. To do this, you will list the individual amounts from each bill on a form 8913, and attach it to whatever version of the 1040 you are filing.

Answer 2

Look at the IRS website and do a search for telephone excise tax. The $30 is the statutory amount that the IRS will "give you" with no supporting documentation. This amount is the same whether you had one line, or 10 lines. If you paid more than the $30, you can fill out a separate form itemizing the actual tax amounts you paid. If you get audited, you will need to provide proof that you did in fact pay the amount of tax you claimed (i.e. provide copies of your phone bills).

Answer 3

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=164032,00.html