Form 8913 Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid

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OMB No. 1545-XXXX

2006

Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

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Name as shown on your income tax return

Attachment
Sequence No.

Attach to your income tax return.

63

Identifying number

Enter the federal telephone excise tax billed during each period as listed in column (a) of lines 1–14 below.

By filing this form, you are certifying that you (1) have not received from your service provider a credit or refund of the tax paid on
long distance service or bundled service billed after February 28, 2003, and before August 1, 2006, and (2) will not ask your
provider for a credit or refund or have withdrawn any request submitted to the provider for a credit or refund.
Caution. See the instructions for explanations of the services that qualify for a credit or refund of the federal telephone excise tax.

Amount of federal excise tax on long distance or
bundled service only
(b) Long
distance
service

(a) Bills dated during:
1 March, April, and May
of 2003
2 June, July, and August
of 2003

$

3 September, October, and
November of 2003
4 December of 2003; January
and February of 2004
5 March, April, and May
of 2004
6 June, July, and August
of 2004

(c) Bundled
service

$

(d) Tax credit or
refund (add
columns (b) and (c))

(e) Interest
(see instructions)

$

$

$

$

7 September, October, and
November of 2004
8 December of 2004; January
and February of 2005
9 March, April, and May
of 2005
10 June, July, and August
of 2005
11 September, October, and
November of 2005
12 December of 2005; January
and February of 2006
13 March, April, and May
of 2006
14 June and July
of 2006
15 Add lines 1–14 in columns (d) and (e)
16 Total credit or refund requested. Add columns (d) and (e) on line 15. Enter here
and on Form 1040, line 71; Form 1040A, line 42; Form 1040EZ, line 9; Form
1040EZ-T, line 1a; Form 1040NR, line 69; Form 1040NR-EZ, line 21; Form 1120,
line 32g; Form 1120-A, line 28g; Form 1120S, line 23d; Form 1041, line 24f;
Form 1065, line 23; Form 990-T, line 44f; or the proper line of other returns ©
For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see the instructions.

Cat. No. 37723M

$
Form

8913

(2006)

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Instructions for Form 8913

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2006

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

Instructions for Form 8913
Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless
otherwise noted.

Others Who May File

General Instructions

Individuals

Purpose of Form
Form 8913 is used to request a credit or refund of the
federal excise tax paid on nontaxable telephone service that
was billed after February 28, 2003, and before August 1,
2006. You cannot request a credit or refund for local-only
service or for charges in connection with local-only service.
See Definitions on page 2. See the table under
Communications Service on page 2 to determine those
telephone charges that are allowed to figure the credit or
refund amount.
You may request a credit or refund if you:
• Have not received from the service provider a credit or
refund of the tax paid on long distance or bundled service
billed after February 28, 2003, and before August 1, 2006,
and
• Will not ask the service provider for a credit or refund and
have withdrawn any request submitted to the provider for a
credit or refund.
Do not file Form 8913 if you are requesting the standard
amount on your individual tax return.
Claims cannot be filed on Form 8849,
Form 720, or Form 843 for nontaxable service; the
CAUTION IRS will not process these claims. If you filed a claim
prior to May 25, 2006, you or your representative should
have received a letter from the IRS explaining how your
claim will be processed. If you or your representative have
not received a letter or an IRS agent has not contacted you,
call toll-free 1-866-699-4096 for assistance.

!

How To Figure Your Credit or Refund
There are two methods to figure your credit or refund on
Form 8913. See page 3 for detailed instructions.
• Figure your actual credit or refund. You will need your
phone bills for the 41-month refund period, which is bills
dated after February 2003 and before August 2006.
• If eligible, you can estimate your actual credit or refund
using the Business and Non-Profit Estimation Method.

Who Must File
All of the following must file Form 8913 to request a credit or
refund of the federal telephone excise tax.
• All corporations, partnerships, trusts, fiduciaries, and
non-profit taxpayers.
• A dependent filing an income tax return or who is filing
Form 1040EZ-T because they are otherwise not required to
file an income tax return. A person who can be claimed as a
dependent on another person’s return is eligible to request a
credit or refund of the telephone excise tax if the dependent
paid the tax on nontaxable service. However, the dependent
must file Form 8913 and figure the actual amount of credit or
refund. A dependent cannot request the standard amount.

Standard amounts are available for individuals to request a
credit or refund of the tax instead of figuring the actual
amount on Form 8913. See the 2006 Instructions for
Form 1040, Form 1040A, Form 1040EZ, Form 1040NR,
Form 1040NR-EZ; or new Form 1040EZ-T, Request for
Refund of Federal Telephone Excise Tax. However,
individuals who want to request a credit or refund greater
than the standard amount must file Form 8913. Individuals
filing Schedule C, Schedule C-EZ, Schedule E, Schedule F,
or Form 4835 may benefit by figuring the actual amount of
credit or refund on Form 8913.
The IRS has developed Form 1040EZ-T for use by

TIP individuals who are otherwise not required to file a
tax return. Individuals who are eligible to file Form
1040EZ-T can request a standard amount or use Form 8913
to request the actual amount of credit or refund. Form
1040EZ-T is available on the IRS website at www.irs.gov.
Individuals filing Schedule C, Schedule C-EZ, Schedule
E, Schedule F, or Form 4835. Individuals who figure the
actual amount of credit or refund (or use the estimation
method) must do so for all of their phone service included in
the credit or refund request. You cannot request the
standard amount for your personal lines and request the
actual amount for your business lines.

Deceased Taxpayers
If a taxpayer died before filing a return for 2006, the
taxpayer’s spouse or personal representative may have to
file Form 8913 and attach it to the applicable tax return for
that taxpayer. The spouse or personal representative can
choose between the standard amount, actual amount, or
estimation method. For more information on filing for a
deceased taxpayer, see the instructions for your individual
tax return.
If the taxpayer died before 2006, use the following rules.
• If the estate of the taxpayer is open and the estate is
required to file Form 1041 for any period beginning in 2006,
then Form 8913 should be attached to the 2006 Form 1041.
• If the estate has filed a final Form 1041 or is otherwise not
required to file Form 1041, the beneficiary may file Form
8913 to request a credit or refund for any months of the
refund period the taxpayer was alive and paid the tax. If
there was more than one beneficiary, each can request their
proportionate share of the credit or refund.
An individual beneficiary cannot file Form 8913 for
the decedent and request the standard amount for
CAUTION their personal phone service. You must figure your
credit or refund on Form 8913 for all of your nontaxable
service or request the standard amount.

!

Entities No Longer in Existence or No Longer in
Business
If your entity was the subject of a merger or acquisition, the
surviving or acquiring corporation can include on its
Form 8913 any tax for the months of the refund period the

Cat. No. 49246W

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Instructions for Form 8913

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dissolved entity was in existence and paid the tax. If the
entity is no longer in business or is no longer in existence,
the distributee must file Form 8913. The distributee includes
any phone tax on nontaxable service from the entity no
longer in existence with the distributee’s refund request.

long-distance service are separately stated, then the amount
for local-only service is subject to the three percent
communications excise tax.

Nontaxable Service

Credit or Refund Requests by Service Providers

Bundled Service

A service provider is the person responsible for paying over
the tax to the government, generally the telecommunications
company that provides communications services to the
taxpayer. A provider cannot use Form 8913 to request a
credit or refund for nontaxable service billed to customers of
the provider. See the Instructions for Form 720.
Providers may request a credit or refund on Form 8913
for nontaxable service billed to the provider.

Bundled service is local and long distance service provided
under a plan that does not separately state the charge for
the local telephone service. Bundled service includes plans
that provide both local and long distance service for either a
flat monthly fee or a charge that varies with the elapsed
transmission time for which the service is used.
Telecommunications companies provide bundled service for
both landlines and wireless (cellular) service. If Voice Over
Internet Protocol service provides both local and long
distance service and the charges are not separately stated,
such service is bundled service.

Documentation
You do not have to attach any phone bills or other records to
Form 8913. However, all taxpayers must have in their
possession the appropriate documentation to support the
credit or refund request.

!

The method for sending or receiving a call, such as on a
landline telephone, wireless (cellular), or some other
method, does not affect whether a service is local-only or
bundled.

Service providers are not obligated to provide billing
records to their customers.

Prepaid Telephone Cards (PTC)

CAUTION

A PTC will be treated as bundled service unless a PTC
expressly states it is for local-only service. Generally, the
person responsible for collecting the tax is the carrier who
transfers the PTC to the transferee. The transferee is the
first person that is not a carrier to whom a PTC is transferred
by the carrier. The transferee is the person liable for the tax
and is eligible to request a credit or refund.

How To File
Attach Form 8913 to your 2006 income tax return or to the
return for the first tax year that includes December 31, 2006.

Definitions

The holder is the person that purchases a PTC other than
for resale. Holders are not liable for the tax and cannot
request a credit or refund.

Communications Service
The table below lists the various types of communications
service and if a credit can be requested for the federal
telephone excise tax paid on that service.

Example 1. Z purchases a PTC from S. Z uses the PTC
to place telephone calls. Z is a holder and cannot request a
credit or refund.

Local Service
Local service means (a) access to a local telephone system
(but not private communications service) and the privilege of
telephonic quality communication with substantially all
persons having telephone or radio telephone stations
constituting a part of such local telephone system, and (b)
any facility or service provided in connection with such a
service.
Local-only service includes the charges for the following
services, even though they may be connected with
long-distance service.
• Telephone amplifier.
• Automatic call distributing equipment.
• Special telephone.
• Subscriber line charge (or access charge if separately
stated).
A universal service fee charge is considered local-only
service if it is separately stated on the bill for local-only
service.
If local and long distance service is billed to a customer
on a single bill, but the charges for local-only service and

Example 2. S purchased the PTC from O. O is a
transferee that purchased the card from R. R is a carrier. O
is eligible to request a credit or refund. S cannot request a
credit or refund because S did not purchase the PTC from
the carrier.

Prepaid Cellular Telephones
Rules similar to the PTC rules above apply to prepaid
cellular telephones. The transferee is the person eligible to
request the credit or refund.

Long Distance Service
Long distance service is telephonic quality communication
with persons whose telephones are outside the local
telephone system of the caller.

Additional Information
For more information, see Notice 2006-50, which is
available on page 1141 of Internal Revenue Bulletin
2006-25 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb06-25.pdf.

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Instructions for Form 8913

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Step 1. Are You Eligible To Use This Method?

Specific Instructions

1. Are you an individual taxpayer?

Identifying Number

Yes.
Continue

You must enter your identifying number. If you do not have a
social security number (SSN), complete Form SS-5. If you
do not have an employer identification number (EIN),
complete Form SS-4.

No.
You can use this method.
Go to Step 2.

2. Are you filing Schedule C, C-EZ, E, or F, or
Form 4835?

If you are a nonresident alien or resident alien, enter your
individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) if you have
one. If you do not have an ITIN, leave the entry space blank.
However, see Social Security Number in the
Form 1040EZ-T instructions for information on the
documentation that must be attached to Form 1040EZ-T.

Yes.
Continue

No.

STOP

You cannot use this method.

3. Enter the amounts from the following lines of your tax
return:

How To Complete Lines 1–14,
Columns (b) and (c)

3a. Schedule C, line 1

Figuring the Actual Amount of Credit or
Refund
Taxpayers must have appropriate records for each month a
credit or refund is requested. Businesses and nonprofit
organizations may use an estimation method (described
below). Combine the amount of tax for the months as
indicated on lines 1 – 14. Complete and attach only one
Form 8913 to each return. If you are requesting a refund for
more than one bill per month, combine all your bills for the
month. Include the tax on prepaid telephone cards and
prepaid cellular service with long distance service in
column (b). Do not include the tax on local-only service.
Example 1. A corporation files a consolidated return with
three subsidiaries. The corporation prepares one Form 8913
which combines the credit or refund request for the entire
group.

3b. Schedule C, line 6

+

3c. Schedule C-EZ, line 1

+

3d. Schedule E, line 3

+

3e. Schedule F, line 11

+

3f. Schedule F, line 45

+

3g. Form 4835, line 7

+

3h. Add lines 3a through 3g

=

3i. Schedule F, line 2

–

3j. Subtract line 3i from line 3h

=

4. Is line 3j more than $25,000?
Yes.
You can use this
method.
Go to Step 2.

Example 2. Audrey files Form 1040 that includes a
Schedule C (Form 1040) for each of her three businesses.
Audrey combines the tax from her personal phone service
along with her business phone service and files one
Form 8913 with Form 1040.

No.

STOP

You cannot use this method.

Step 2. Figure Your Allowable Excise Tax Rate
1. Enter the total amount you paid for
telephone service (including all fees
and taxes) billed in April 2006. . . . . .
2. Enter the total federal excise
tax included on line 1. . . . . . . . . . . .
3. Divide line 2 by line 1. Carry the
result to at least four decimal places
4. Enter the total amount you paid for
telephone service (including all fees
and taxes) billed in September 2006.
5. Enter the total federal excise
tax included on line 4. . . . . . . . . . . .
6. Divide line 5 by line 4. Carry the
result to at least four decimal places
7. Subtract line 6 from line 3. . . . . . . .
8. Enter the number of employees
from line 1 of your second quarter of
2006 Form 941 (but do not count any
household employees, employees in
nonpay status, pensioners, or active
members of the Armed Forces). . . .
9. If line 8 is 250 or less, enter 0.02.
Otherwise, enter 0.01 . . . . . . . . . .
10. Enter the smaller of line 7 or line 9. .

Business and Nonprofit Estimation Method
A business and nonprofit estimation method is available for
corporations, partnerships, estates, trusts, and nonprofit
organizations. Business also includes individual taxpayers
filing Schedule C, Schedule C-EZ, Schedule E, Schedule F,
or Form 4835. Your organization must have been in
business April through September of 2006 to use this
method.
Individuals cannot request the standard amount for
their personal phone service if they figure the actual
CAUTION credit or refund or use the estimation method for
their business phone service.

!

This method will allow organizations to make a
reasonable estimate of their actual credit or refund for the
41-month refund period. Using the estimation method may
reduce the burden of computing the actual credit or refund
for all 41 months. However, there are limits on the amount of
credit or refund using this method. The limits are explained
in the worksheet. Any organization, or individual filing
Schedules C, C-EZ, E, F, or Form 4835, can always figure
the actual amount of credit or refund and not use the
estimation method.

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Instructions for Form 8913

9:59 - 7-DEC-2006

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interest factor in the table below, and enter the result in
column (e). The interest factors below also may be used by
other taxpayers with a return due date of April 17, 2007.
Interest is computed through May 30, 2007.

Step 3. Figure Your Credit or Refund for Each
Period
• In column (b), enter the telephone expenses billed for the

period in column (a). You may determine your telephone
expenses for each month during your tax year by dividing
your annual telephone expenses for that tax year by 12.
• In column (c), enter the rate from Step 2, line 10.
• In column (d), multiply column (b) by column (c). Enter
the result on the corresponding line in column (d) of
Form 8913.

Line From
Form 8913

Interest Start Date

Interest Factor

Line 1

August 1, 2003

.26035153

Line 2

November 1, 2003

.24562575

Line 3

February 1, 2004

.23314233

Line 4

May 1, 2004

.22007283

Line 5

August 1, 2004

.20585637

Line 6

November 1, 2004

.19278274

Line 7

February 1, 2005

.17787264

Line 8

May 1, 2005

.16264458

Line 9

August 1, 2005

.14519529

Line 10

November 1, 2005

.12705042

Line 11

February 1, 2006

.10734120

Line 12

May 1, 2006

.08860272

5. March 2004 –
May 2004

Line 13

August 1, 2006

.06865803

Line 14

November 1, 2006

.04732732

6. June 2004 –
Aug. 2004

Interest factors are not provided in these instructions for
returns with a due date before or after April 17, 2007. Tables
of interest rates to figure interest on overpayments for return
due dates other than April 17, 2007, are available in Rev.
Proc.95-17, 1995-1 C.B. 556. The applicable interest rates
for overpayments in effect for periods through December 31,
2006, are shown in Rev. Rul. 2006-49, 2006-40 I.R.B. 584,
which is available at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb06-40.pdf.
For periods after December 31, 2006, use the applicable
overpayment rate under section 6621(a)(1) in the quarterly
revenue rulings published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin.

(a) Period

1. March 2003 –
May 2003

(b) Telephone
Expenses
(including all
fees and taxes)

(c) Rate
From
Step 2,
Line 10

$

(d) Tax Credit or
Refund (column
(b) x column (c))
$

2. June 2003 –
Aug. 2003
3. Sept. 2003 –
Nov. 2003
4. Dec. 2003 –
Feb. 2004

7. Sept. 2004 –
Nov. 2004
8. Dec. 2004 –
Feb. 2005
9. March 2005 –
May 2005
10. June 2005 –
Aug. 2005

Including the Credit or Refund in
Income

11. Sept. 2005 –
Nov. 2005
12. Dec. 2005 –
Feb. 2006
13. March 2006 –
May 2006

If you deducted the excise tax paid, you must include the
credit or refund in your gross income in the year received or
accrued (except to the extent the deduction did not reduce
your income tax).

14. June 2006 –
July 2006

Amended Return
You must complete another Form 8913 in full if you are
amending a previously filed Form 8913. Attach both the
original and corrected Form 8913 to the applicable amended
return.
Example. Individuals may file an amended return
changing from the standard amount to the actual amount of
credit or refund. Attach the original and corrected Forms
8913 to Form 1040X and state that your are changing from
the standard amount to the actual amount of credit or
refund.

Do not complete columns (b) and (c) on Form 8913.
Complete column (e) and the rest of Form 8913 using these
instructions.

Lines 1–14, Column (e)
All taxpayers must figure the interest that is due on the
credit or refund. If you are an individual, estate, or trust and
are filing a calendar year tax return, multiply the amount of
tax on Form 8913, lines 1-14, column (d), by the appropriate

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Instructions for Form 8913

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burden for individual taxpayers filing Form 8913 is approved
under OMB control number 1545-0074 and is included in the
estimates shown in the instructions for their individual
income tax return. The estimated burden for all other
taxpayers who file Form 8913 shown below.
Recordkeeping, 13 hr., 37 min.; Preparing and sending
the form to the IRS, 13 min.
If you have comments concerning the accuracy of these
time estimates or suggestions for making this form simpler,
we would be happy to hear from you. See the instructions
for the tax return with which this form is filed.

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the
information on Form 8913 to carry out the Internal Revenue
laws of the United States. You are required to give us the
information. We need it to ensure that you are complying
with these laws and to allow us to figure and collect the right
amount of tax.
You are not required to provide the information requested
on a form that is subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act
unless the form displays a valid OMB control number. Books
or records relating to a form or its instructions must be
retained as long as their contents may become material in
the administration of any Internal Revenue law. Generally,
tax returns and return information are confidential, as
required by section 6103.
The time needed to complete and file Form 8913 will vary
depending on individual circumstances. The estimated

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