This past year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Excise Tax, that had been collected on phone bills, would be eliminated. It ruled that the Federal Government needed to make an automatic refund available to businesses from the 3% Federal Excise Tax collected on your phone bills from March of 2003 through July of 2006. However, claiming the 3% in full is very difficult. The problem is that the IRS issued a 17-page memorandum citing the documentation required to claim such a credit. What this meant, in effect, is that the management teams of any company had to first comprehend which type of phone calls were to be included in the rebate, and which calls were to be excluded. This exercise itself, in terms of comprehending how to analyze your past phone bills, was a challenge. And, even if a company did figure out which calls would qualify, and which would not, in order to obtain the refund, a company had to scour through forty-one month’s worth of phone bills. For example, if a company spent $10,000 per month on phone calls that would qualify for the Federal Excise Tax Rebate, would it have the staff, time, and resources to actually do the labor required to obtain the refund?

Retex Services is now available to help Retex Member maximize the recovery on the Federal Excise Tax Rebate on your 2006 Tax Return. Here is how the service works. A telecommunications auditor with an expertise in recovering Federal Excise Tax refunds performs the service for 50% of the refund obtained. While any company can obtain an “automatic” refund of Federal Excise Tax, it is a small amount of money in comparison with the amount of the potential refund available with this program.

Note: While most Retex Members have sufficient telephone volume to qualify for this service, it should be noted that the minimum combined telephone volume of a Retex Member for this service should be either 20 or more combined phone lines from their locations (e.g. five phone lines at four locations qualifies…), and/or $750 or more in monthly long distance phone service.

To sign up for this service, the Retex Member may contact the “Business Services” hotline Monday-Friday during business hours, offered by Retex Services at 800-892-0879 in the Continental U.S. (Members in Alaska and/or Hawaii call 800-517-0158), and provide their name, company name, title, phone number and email. They will be contacted directly by Retex Services, who will provide them with the sign-up forms, and then; will introduce them directly to the telecommunications professionals who will perform the audit. For additional information about this program, contact Member Care.