Jan. 29, 2007 — If you bought your cell phone on the mainland, you may be entitled to a credit for the excise tax on your 2006 income taxes, a local Internal Revenue Bureau representative said Monday.
"It's a one-time thing," said Tammy Smalls, chief legal counsel for the IRB.
To get it, you'll have to file form 1040EZ-T with the Internal Revenue Service. The credit came about because of a court case between the federal government and mainland phone companies concerning long distance and other bundled services, Smalls said.
The federal income-tax form used by V.I. residents includes a line to report taxes paid to the local government, residents should not fill in that line, she said. Instead they should fill out the form 1040EZ-T. Smalls said $30 is the maximum amount allowed on the credit.
The IRB did not receive any money from the tax, said acting IRB Director Gizette L. Thomas in a news release issued Friday.
The tax was an excise tax, not an income tax, and was not collected by the IRB. Instead, Thomas said, all payments went to the IRS.
