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PrintJEFFERSON CITY — One of the nation's largest telecommunications companies has run afoul with Missouri's Department of Revenue.
On April 4, AT&T Inc.'s sales tax license was revoked in over 200 municipalities in the state, according to the Department of Revenue website. Operating without a valid sales tax license is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $500 for the first day of operation and $100 for each succeeding day, with a maximum fine of $10,000, according to Department of Revenue documents.
Kerry Hibbs, a spokesman for AT&T, said he was unaware of the revocation of his company's license. Hibbs mentioned a previous tax issue AT&T had settled with over 300 Missouri municipalities last year, but he said he was unsure if the two issues were related.
While the Department of Revenue is prohibited by law from commenting on a specific business' taxes, Ted Farnen, a spokesman for the department, said that in general a business will be notified several times of delinquent taxes before a license will be revoked.
If the business then continues to operate without a valid license, the Department of Revenue's Criminal Investigation unit will be notified and fines can be levied. One fine would be registered per company, he said, regardless of how many locations in which it operates.
Farnen said in this case the sales tax is based on where customers live, rather than the location of specific AT&T stores. As of Monday morning, 17 days after AT&T had its license revoked, the company was still billing customers in Missouri for sales taxes.
AT&T Global Network Services, LLC, as the company is listed on the Department of Revenue's website, was organized in Delaware, according to documents on file with the Secretary of State's office.
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Thanks for sharing Jeremy, I think we should hold more corporations accountable more often!
Haha, LOl couldn't have happened to a 'nicer' company. My wife had *that company* for two years and the contract was to be over in 2 weeks, so she signed up for a different service, thinking she would just let the 2 weeks go unused and start using the new company. WRONG! We got a bill for the $600.00 dollar charge of 'terminating the contact prematurely' even though we didn't actually end the contract, just wanted to let it run out (and no way could have ever used close to the $600.00 of phone usage in 2 weeks)
To make a long story short, I called and talked for a long time to an arrogant #$%%^% that said TOO BAD, pay up the 6 hundred, doesn't matter if in GOOD FAITH you were just switching, just the ACT of switching, *cancelled* the contract "automatically" even if you didn't intend to do that.
After about a half hour of questioning and telling the guy I thought the company must be ran by the mafia and have links to organized crime, I decided to end the call (on a few choice words) and was left deciding whether or not to FIGHT it. The other half however just decided to pay it,(Arrrgh) and didn't want the credit hassle, so I just decided to chalk it up to being MUCH wiser next time (obviously with a different company) and warning as many people as practical not to be prey for these IMO uncaring global monstrosties, all I can say is BUYER BEWARE! (and take a lawyer and a microscope along to read the 15 pages of legalese typed in microscopic 'fine' print)