Debt Free

This year the IRS has decided to bless American taxpayers with a little bit of extra love. Nearly everyone will be eligible for between $30 - $60 of additional money back, depending upon their number of exemptions. The money's coming back due to a Federal court decision that excise taxes were being incorrectly applied, and thus must be refunded. Sadly, the decision only affects taxes paid for the last three years.

You're eligible of you paid any long distance telephone bills during the period after Feb. 28, 2003, and before Aug. 1, 2006. If, like many American taxpayers, you've already filed your taxes and are awaiting your refund, don't file an amend return. It'll only confuse the issue and delay your refund. Instead, after you've received your refund, file IRS Form 1040X, and the IRS will respond with a nice check for you. If you've yet to file (slackers!), I can call your attention to the following lines on your tax forms

• Form 1040, Line 71;

• Form 1040A, Line 42;

• Form 1040EZ, Line 9;

• Form 1040NR, Line 69; or

• Form 1040NR-EZ, Line 21

If you feel the refund is not enough, and you're sure you paid far more than the standard the IORS is allowing, you can wade through all your phone bills and actually add up what you paid, and the IRS will refund it. Unless you are a long distance talker extraordinaire, the time it will take to accomplish this will probably not net enough additional money to make it worth your while. Although the refund's not much, and it would be nice if it went back farther, tax refunds are like pizza and sex, even bad, they're still pretty darn good.