Tax Projects Group - Teaming with CPAs to Bring Value

TELEPHONE TAX AND COST RECOVERY SERVICES

Telecom Excise Tax Refund Service

Telecom Audit Service

Telecom Excise Tax Refund Service

What Is The Telephone Tax Refund?

The telephone tax refund is a one-time payment available (retroactively) on your 2006 federal income tax return, designed to refund previously collected federal excise taxes on long-distance or bundled services. It is available to anyone who paid such taxes on landline, wireless, or voice-over-internet service, etc. The IRS has reserved $6 Billion for these refunds. More than 50% of this reserve has still not been refunded to date.

Obtaining The Refund

TPG teams with your accounting department to gather all the necessary information in a non-intrusive manner and will prepare the appropriate claims supported by an audit ready file. If necessary, we will meet with the IRS and provide support for the claim until a final determination letter is received.

Background

In 2006, the IRS conceded liability (Notice 2006-50) with respect to the federal telecom excise tax, and directed telecommunications carriers to cease the collection of federal excise taxes related to long distance and bundled services as of July 31, 2006. The IRS also agreed to refund these excise taxes that were collected between March 1, 2003 and July 31, 2006. TPG enables businesses to accurately recover these overpayments, including interest.

The telephone tax was originally instituted in 1898 to fund the Spanish American War. In 2006, after multiple lawsuits, the IRS conceded that it was time to put the war behind us and refund all taxes that were collected within the statute of limitations. The items that were taxed in error include:

Long Distance (at fixed per minute rates)
Inbound Toll-Free Services
Cell Phone
Blackberry Service
LANs/WANs
Pagers & Beepers
Internet
Broadband
Voicemail
Conference Calling
Data-only Services

Example: $1,000,000/year Telecom Expense
Year	Months	Expense
2003	10	$833,333
2004	12	$1,000,000
2005	12	$1,000,000
2006	8	$666,667
Total Qualifying Expenses:		$3,500,000
Approximate Refund:		$104,180

TPG’s fees for this service are contingent on and paid when our Client receives the related benefit.

Telecom Audit

When it comes to customer billing, Telecom companies do not guarantee accuracy. It is the customer who must shoulder the burden of checking their bills and protecting their own interests. For a large business, dealing with multiple carriers, multiple lines and multiple locations, this task can be daunting.

Tax Projects Group can help you understand complex telecom bills, identifying areas where you are being over billed and overtaxed as well as uncovering charges for duplicate or unnecessary phone lines and services.

Many Telecom customers are unaware of the many responsibilities they have in order to ensure accurate billing. Telecom clients must review the accuracy of their bills, comparing each line and feature against the ones that appear on the statement. In order to guarantee billing accuracy, Telecom customers are also required to maintain an inventory of each line and every piece of telecom equipment they utilize

TPG will team with your IT/Telecom department to gather all necessary information in a non-intrusive manner. We will also prepare the appropriate documentation to secure Telecom credits and billing corrections.

TPG professionals can help you:

Compile a list of all lines currently in service, by location
Make certain that you are only being billed for lines you are using.
Ensure the accuracy of billing statements for each line and feature
Verify that the taxes and surcharges you are paying are applicable.

Additionally, TPG will help you resolve any disputed findings with your Telecom company, ensuring fast recovery of credits and refunds from service providers.