I pre ordered my 6s, my 4th iphone with them in 5 years, and this is the 3rd iphone on the Next plan. I go with the 20 month plan so I can upgrade it in 12 months so I can get the new phone when it comes out every year. Why does AT&T charge for "estimated" sales tax upfront? Shouldn't the tax be charged monthly with the installment plan? When I was checking out and the site said I was basically given credit for remaining installment payments I was thinking where's my refund for the sales tax I didn't use considering the estimated sales tax is calculated on the full price of the phone that I will not pay when I upgrade. Sure if I finished paying off the 20 payments I would have payed the full price of the phone but I paid 12 payments and am entering a new 20 month agreement that I must pay tax on the full retail price of the phone... Sure, it's under $30 but it's my $30! I'd love to know if AT&T is handing the full sales tax over or is saying "nope look he only made 3/5 of the installment payments before upgrading, so we don't owe tax on the full retail price and pocketing my $30?
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Carrier Scammed on AT&T Sales Tax?
- Thread starter Burrstone
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If you buy a car and trade it in before you finish paying it off, the state doesn't give you a refund on the sales tax. Sales tax goes to the state, AT&T doesn't keep it, and they pay it all at once, not in monthly installments.
As someone who works in the industry for one of the "Big 2" carriers in the US. You weren't scammed. Most states require taxes to be paid up front. They don't care if it's being financed over time interest-free, they see it as you bought a device at the full retail cost.
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That's the correct practice as someone who works at the big 4 accounting firms.
You actually bought the phone just as if you paid for it in full.
ATT is just letting you pay them back one month at a time for it, interest free.
ATT is just letting you pay them back one month at a time for it, interest free.
Whine whine whine. You weren't scammed.
The only scam here is the OP's "education". How sales tax works is basic civics / home-economics. It's appalling that we let people get out of school and into the real world without understanding this stuff.
The fear and hate of AT&T is fostered primarily by iPhone users, it's a very unique phenomenon.
Failing do take personal responsibility for reading the contract they agreed to, failing to read terms and conditions, they lazily post questions on the forum so other uninformed users can toss in more lies, guesses, false information all under the guise of being correct.
All the FUD snowballs and those who thrive on bitching and complaining spew the hate.
Failing do take personal responsibility for reading the contract they agreed to, failing to read terms and conditions, they lazily post questions on the forum so other uninformed users can toss in more lies, guesses, false information all under the guise of being correct.
All the FUD snowballs and those who thrive on bitching and complaining spew the hate.
You shouldn't pay sales tax on a lease. It *does* matter because leasing is not buying.
If you lease a car you won't pay "sales" tax until/unless you choose to buy it out in the end. Reducing the purchase price is one of the main benefits of leasing.
This is actually not true, if you buy a car and still owe say $20,000 on it and you get $20,000 for it on trade and your new car is $40,000 you get tax credit for the $20,000 trade value and only pay taxes on the difference of $20,000. So you do get a credit for whatever your trade is worth, now that might not be as much as you would have thought but at least you are getting a break on the taxes when trading in a car. I work at a car dealership.
So I don't see why our phones can't work this way.
I guess what you say is true for leases, but buying an iPhone in installments is not leasing.
What I am slightly concerned about is they charged the tax for the device up front but I am wondering if they are also doing it on my monthly bill. How can I tell if any tax is being paid on my installment plan? That's what concerns me. I don't trust stuff like that.
I wish I had more hands to give you more thumbs up....especially the first sentence.
I can't wait until next Friday so threads like this will go away
They are not but is this your first 'bill' in the real world? All you do is LOOK at your phone bill. Everything is all there in 'black and white'. Even if you still don't believe it simply add and divide to get the answer. It is all SO simple.
It doesn't work that way in every state, and those are exceptions only for cars. Same reason why a car lease in some (but not all) states only charge sales tax on the monthly payments. Everything else, the state figures someone bought something (whether it is the consumer as the buyer or the lessor as the buyer) and they want their pound of flesh. In this circumstance, this is not a lease, it is a purchase with financing agreement. The fact that the agreement includes an allowed trade in clause doesn't change that. Every financing agreement I've ever engaged in, sales tax is paid up front, and while the sales tax may be financed too, it still gets paid to the state.
Lol, no it's not. Been with AT&T for 6 years. I just have a funny feeling this might happen. Unlikely though. My brain just gets going.
Easy there, put the condescending words away. It was a honest question, most times that sales people are terrible at explaining to customers what is being purchased so I'm sure this is a common question for a lot of people.
Uhm. If you're being charged (price of phone + tax) / number of installments, then you're paying tax.
Lol, no it's not. Been with AT&T for 6 years. I just have a funny feeling this might happen. Unlikely though. My brain just gets going.
We have one line with a Next plan on it right now. It gets charged the same amount of sales tax as the lines that don't have a Next plan on them. Running the numbers, it's obvious the sales tax is being charged on the $15 line fee and not the Next financing payment.