Welcome

The purpose of this electronic toolkit is to provide background information about the refund of approximately $13 billion in telephone excise taxes to more than 159 million taxpayers this year. 

In 1898, the federal government imposed a "luxury" tax on United States long-distance telephone users. In 2006, the United States Department of the Treasury determined that this tax is history. As a result, the IRS will issue a one-time payment that eligible taxpayers can request on their 2006 federal income tax returns. The refund gives back federal excise taxes paid in previous years. 

Specifically, if you paid long distance charges on a land line, cell phone, Voice over Internet Protocol service, or bundled services, for which you received a bill at any time after Feb. 28, 2003, and before Aug. 1, 2006, you most likely paid the telephone excise tax and are eligible to request a refund.

This electronic toolkit contains valuable tools to use when communicating information about the telephone excise tax refund to low-income and elderly taxpayers, including a downloadable flyer, a drop-in newsletter article and other customizable materials. It also provides suggested outreach ideas your organization may implement to help spread the news about this important refund.

For additional information, visit IRS.gov. If you have questions about partnering with the IRS to assist in the dissemination of information about the refund, please e-mail partners@irs.gov.