Taxpayers neglecting to claim phone tax refund, IRS says

According to the IRS, many taxpayers are not even claiming the standard deduction let alone going to the extra work to itemize it. From a recent article:

More than a third of early tax return filers are not requesting the one-time telephone tax refund entitling them to at least $30, the Internal Revenue Service said.
bq. The agency said that in addition to more than one-third of early filers using Forms 1040, 1040A and others not requesting the refund, lower income people using Form 1040EZ-T are failing to show a refund amount on Line 1a.
bq. Others, it said, are requesting refunds based on the entire amount of their phone bills, rather than the 3 percent tax on long-distance and bundled service, or requesting amounts in the hundreds or thousands of dollars.
bq. It advised taxpayers to file electronically because electronic-filing software flags often-overlooked tax breaks. The agency also reminded taxpayers that the break does not apply to the total phone bill or taxes paid on local-only service. Taxpayers are urged to stay away from tax preparers claiming they can get hundreds of dollars or more back.

It’s interesting to note that they suggest avoiding tax preparers that can get hundreds back. Based on your analysis, I’d say it is possible that many people could get hundreds back.