Beware of unsolicited e-mail from the IRS

Detroit Free Press

If I were looking for fast cash, I might have been a little too tempted to jump at an e-mail supposedly from the Internal Revenue Service. It read: "After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $249.30."

Hey, that's a couple of weeks of groceries at my house. Or an airline ticket toward the next vacation. All I had to do was submit the request and wait two to three days.

"Please click here," it read.

The problem, of course, is that this is a fraud. You click here -- and you give away important personal information to con artists.

Luis D. Garcia, an IRS spokesman in Detroit, said that the fake refund e-mails surfaced earlier this year for smaller amounts, like $68. People believed that they could be owed a few bucks.

"So they lowered their guard and gave out personal information," Garcia said.

Now scammers think people could use a couple hundred bucks. Maybe, but don't fall for this one.

"Any unsolicited e-mail from the IRS is a fraud," Garcia said.

Some taxpayers can pick up more money another way, though. The IRS estimates that about 1.4 million taxpayers in Michigan left nearly $42 million on the table because they have yet to file for the one-time phone tax refund.

The standard phone refund is $30 for a single filer, $40 for a family of two, $50 for a family of three and $60 for a family of four or more.

Or a taxpayer could fill out Form 8913 to calculate actual taxes paid.

Some people didn't claim the tax refund because it was new on the 2006 form, and they copied the 2005 return.

See Line 71 on the regular 1040 for 2006. Or see line 9 on the 1040EZ or line 42 on the 1040A.

Seniors and others who are not required to file a regular tax return can file a 1040EZ-T form to get the phone refund.

Again, if you have bills from Feb. 28, 2003, to Aug. 1, 2006, you can figure out the 3 percent excise tax paid on bundled or long-distance service.

Garcia noted that consumers who are owed the refund -- but didn't file -- still would have until April 2010 to actually file for that refund.

Obviously, you don't have to wait that long.

"You can go back by amending your return," Garcia said. If you filed a 2006 tax return but missed the telephone tax refund, you'd file an amended return by using Form 1040X.

Or if you typically do not file a return, you can request the 1040EZ-T.

Go to the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov or call 800-829-3676 for forms.

This refund also applies to businesses. And the IRS has a formula that most businesses and tax-exempt organizations can use to figure out their refund.

In general, businesses and tax-exempt organizations that were operating at any time from March 1, 2003, through July 31, 2006 -- and continued to incur phone expenses from April 2006 through September 2006 -- could choose to use the formula.

The telephone excise tax will not be on the 2007 return.

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