Hundreds of people have come to Beverly's Tax Service, on the corner of 8th Street and 27th Avenue in Meridian, to collect what they think will be a huge return from their phone companies.

"They were supposed to be giving out rebate checks for the BellSouth," said LaKeesha Lang. "And you have to have your social security number and your telephone number, and then it's in the years of 2003 and now, but that's what I heard. I don't know. But I do know the line is extremely long."

AT&T regional manager C.D. Smith says he wants to clear up the confusion.

"People think they're going to get hundreds of dollars. No, no," Smith said.

In fact, Smith says this excise tax has nothing to do with AT&T, formerly BellSouth. He says this was a federal tax that was placed on phone bills and collected by the telephone companies, to pay for the Spanish-America War of 1898.

"I've heard rumors and people think that AT&T or BellSouth had been sued as a result as a class action suit and having to refund money," said Smith. "And it's nothing like that. It has nothing to do with us. However, because the tax appeared on the phone bill, I guess that's how people think that we had something to do with it."

Smith says the government discontinued collection of this tax a couple of years ago and set up an option for those taxpayers to get a reimbursement. But Smith says despite what many believe, this rebate is far from a big dollar amount.

"If you have documentation and meet the criteria, you can get a tax refund anywhere from $20 to maybe $40. Now that's about the maximum amount anyone is expected to get," said Smith.

It's possible some people may have confused the telephone excise tax refund, still available by amending your 2006 income tax return if it has not been claimed, with the economic stimulus checks authorized by Congress this year.

For more information on this rebate, you may visit the Web site of the Internal Revenue Service. A link is provided below.