Springfield The IRS estimates that more than 176,000 returns filed state-wide last month failed to request the telephone tax refund. This amounts to an estimated $5.282 million or more that New Jerseyans have not requested. Some 10,230 returns filed in Passaic county during February failed to request the telephone tax refund, according to IRS estimates. This amounts to an estimated $306,900 in potential refunds. “If a taxpayer is entitled to receive the telephone excise tax refund and did not request it on the filed 2006 tax return should submit an amended return, Form 1040X, and complete line 15,” said IRS spokesperson Gregg Semanick. The government stopped collecting the long-distance excise tax last August after several federal court decisions held that the tax does not apply to long-distance service as it is billed today. Federal officials also authorized a one-time refund of the federal excise tax collected on service billed during the previous 41 months, stretching from the beginning of March 2003 to the end of July 2006. The tax continues to apply to local-only phone service. To make the refund easier to figure, the government established a standard refund amount, based on personal exemptions, ranging from $30 to $60. If taxpayers have phone bills and other records, they can request the actual amount of excise tax paid. Though using the standard amount is optional, it is easy to figure and approximates the eligible amount for most individual taxpayers. Taxpayers only have to fill out one line on their return, and they don’t need to present proof to the IRS.